Inhuman
by A.S. Gemar
Summary: The Broken Path Book 3. Hannah has traveled with Jar-hidda through the void, living the way of the hunter, no longer prey. She has come to the understanding of her place in the universe and finally accepted her fate to live the rest of her life. This changes when a brush with kainde amedha leads to a conflict with humans, and Hannah must once again choose a side.
1. Cold

Dark shadows were stark cold compared to the rest of the surroundings. Every time he passed under one was a sudden shock to his system, and in the frozen forest, there were many shadows. It kept him focused; the stab of icy air gave a sharp sting to the delicate inner folds of his mandibles, forcing them tightly close around his inner mouth. The claws of the wind threatened to dig into his skin, but the links of his suit kept the beast at bay as he came to a rest on a branch. He could see his own breath bloom and cloud his vision before being stolen and whisked away. He put his mask back on.

Claws dug into crackling wood as he leaned forward, long dreads sliding over his shoulders. There was nothing to either side, but below, a very faint, fading trail. He rattled. The odds were severely stacked against his prey. He was close behind. Prying his claws from the branch of the tree he leapt forward, feeling the unforgiving brush of more shadows.

He was painfully aware of the noise he was making, as every hunter is. The more aware of ones sound, the less aware prey would be. He couldn't help but grin as he closed in, seeing a bright spot of heat just ahead. He slowed and moved quieter than before. Avoiding branches where the god-forsaken snow had piled so high a touch would send the whole pile to the forest floor and give away his position.

He stopped above the dot of heat and froze. The heat was there, unmistakable, but there was no body. It was as if his prey had taken to the sky from that spot, but he knew this to be impossible. He rattled despite himself and looked around. There was no other trail, not heat in the blackness of this infernal place. He leaned forward and dropped down, sinking down nearly to his waist. He reached out and touched the edges of the trail where the heat was rapidly dissipating. He growled and pulled himself out of the hole he made, stepping onto the snow and only sinking to his knees.

He kept low, looking around but seeing nothing. Where could she have gone?

Hell erupted around him. The cascading blackness poured across his skin. There was pain against the side of his head, cracking hard against his crest, knocking his mask clean off, causing the vapor tubes to hiss violently. Two more strikes were made in quick succession, against his side, then chest, before he could even react. He swung his wristblades out, backwards, and the non-damaging side struck metal, knocking his opponent's weapon away long enough to tumble to the side. He turned and face her. Her body crisscrossed with brightness, and the squares between slowly brightening to match.

She had hid in the snow. Clever _tetch-na_. Without his mask he couldn't see the details of her body, but he was sure that pretentious human grimace twisted her face, teeth exposed and everything.

She moved and he fell into a stance automatically, watching as she spun her spear casually at her side and walked. He watched her carefully, moving to follow her circle when she got too close. What was she planning? It was difficult to tell with how relaxed she was. She could very well not be planning anything and relish in letting him suffer in uncertainty.

He clicked a tusk. He did not like being made a fool of, but if she was expecting him to act irrationally she was sorely mistaken.

The snow around his legs was melting, the cold water running down his skin, causing him to sink deeper.

A sheer whistle blanketed her spear as it sailed through the air with a quick swing of her arm. He dodged to the side, the spear sticking out of a tree unwavering. He found his footing suddenly entangled as she came in from the other side of her spear. His own momentum carried him into her attack, causing him more pain in his leg than if she had hit him with her strength alone.

That was how she fought; using a yautja's size against him.

She swept his leg out from under him, pitching him into the black snow. He felt her weight on top of him, spear in her hand, pointed tip at the base of his throat, sharper than any sting of wind or bite of cold, dangerously pressed below the lowest ring of his necklace.

He heard her laugh and rumbled. He remembered that she had _earned_ her name as Throat Cutter among other yautja. She removed her spear and stepped away from him, allowing him to stand.

"Good hunt," Jar-hidda said, trying to sound annoyed.

Hannah retracted her spear and stored it on the pack on her back.

"Let's get back to the ship," she sighed, stepping forward and smacking her hand against his shoulder.

"We're not finished-."

"Oh yes we are," she said tersely with a smile. Her hands lashed out and in a flash had his codpiece off and she was several feet away before the cold really crept through his loincloth.

"Hannah!" he roared, trying to protect that part of him from the elements. He charged after her, pounding deep holes in the snow. There was no contest really, and she had to know that. He caught up to her easily and with a shove of his hand sent her sprawling face-first into the snow. He rolled her over, muffled laughter ringing clear, and pried the codpiece from her fingers. He reattached it and growled at her, still laughing in the snow.

He heard her grunt as he stepped on her stomach and pushed her deeper into the snow, but laughter continued to ring from the clean-cut depression as he turned his back to it and stormed away, hands balled into fists.

She eventually pulled herself out and caught back up with him.

It did not take them long to make their way back to the ship. It was barely warmer than it was outside, and Jar-hidda could see Hannah's hair was slicked against her head, and she had to peel her loincloth off, letting it smack against the ground. Good, being wet in this condition would be very bad.

Despite being cold, she was smiling in a way he knew to be smug.

"Enjoy it while you can," growled Jar-hidda, "next time, I'll win."

"Yeah, sure, uh-huh," she smiled at him and a single tusk tapped once. She grinned and picked out a dry cloth to re-tie around herself. Jar-hidda also followed suit, wrapping a kilt around himself and groaning.

He had come into the room from the cockpit. It was the first stop he always made after waking up, training, or hunting, and always just before sleeping.

"You just don't want to admit to yourself that you're getting old and slow," she grinned and he rattled in warning. She chuckled.

Now dry, or at least in dry clothing, Jar-hidda watched Hannah move to her shoulder pack and opened it up with a touch of her finger. From within she removed some herbs, now limp in the heat and brought them up to inhale.

"What is that," the yautja asked, stepping behind her.

"Found it under the snow," she answered, "smells good, I think I'll try it on some meat."

She held it out to Jar-hidda who bent and opened his mandibles, inhaling audibly. He had to admit he enjoyed spice very much, since having some of Hannah's back on Earth a long while ago. He would never admit it to her, but he appreciated that she would find plants for the sole purpose of putting flavor to meat and stews.

"Maybe," he said, "try it."

Hannah nodded and turned to head to the kitchen. It was the warmest part of the ship, also the most pungent. It was here that Hannah had started to tie up the herbs she collected to dry and be used as spice. Jar-hidda had entered with her, reaching over and touching one of the spices, an audible and crisp sound coming from between his fingers.

"This one's ready."

"Good, you want to try it tonight?"

"May as well."

Jar-hidda stepped back and watched as Hannah untied the bundle and took a single sprig. The plant, when she found it, she teased Jar-hidda for the resemblance to his coloration, purple and green, a concept that he was still trying to grasp. Lately though she was teasing him as Jar-hidda's skin was taking on a decidedly grey tone.

The fact that he was changing color disturbed him on some level, knowing he was changing but not understanding how.

She took some of the fresh meat from its cupboard and turned on the hotplate. As it heated she worked on crushing the plant into tiny pieces in her hand. She rubbed the grains into the surface and slapped the meat onto the hotplate, searing it, and then letting it sit. Jar-hidda moved and sat beside her, eager for the meat to cook and to have something warm in his stomach.

He would normally not let her cook for the both of them, but the last several times he had tried had caused the meat to burn.

This planet did things to him...

It took only a minute before it was done, and the meat was divided into proper portions, his much larger than hers. The meat was tough, taken from some white ape-like beast at least three times the size of Jar-hidda. But it was a stupid animal, easy to take down, worth more for its meat than as a trophy. The thick heavy pelt of fur was also a nice prize. Since they had found themselves stranded on this planet, where it was always winter, all the animals were aggressive and dangerous, and the smallest of them was the ape beasts. It was a planet Jar-hidda was keen to tell her was named _Cho't_ and was owned by no one.

Which made the likelihood of his beacon being heard by anyone anytime soon very slim.

To conserve power, they lowered the heat down to barely tolerable for Jar-hidda, which was an almost-uncomfortable for Hannah.

He, however, figured she would be accustomed to a place like this, considering where she had been living when they had met. It was much the same.

Jar-hidda, as much as she had been teasing him, was moving slower, and he knew it wasn't because of age. He hated being here; the cold always negatively affected his kind. What they considered the place of eternal punishment was cold. He would be grateful when they could leave.

"How is it?" she asked as he had taken his third bite, distracting himself from his thoughts.

"It is strong," he answered, voice muffled by food, "I like it, we should get more the next time we are on No'haus."

Dinner was otherwise quiet, as usual, and once they were done, Jar-hidda went to the cockpit to see if there had been an answer to his call. Hannah followed, folding her arms and waiting as he tapped buttons and muttered curses. He didn't sit down and wait for hours like he had for the first few days, he couldn't afford to be still, and staring at the screen would not make a ship find them any faster.

"This thing...," he heard Hannah say and he looked over at the piece she was fiddling with, a vaguely flower-shaped thing. He had attempted to explain its purpose and function, but ultimately he had given up. It was one more part of his ship that he knew what it did, but didn't know _how_. An engineer would have been more suited to her questions.

"Still nothing?"

"No, it will take a while," Jar-hidda said as fact rather than optimism. He stepped away from the controls and she set the device back down on the arm of the chair.

He had all but lost track of how long they had been stranded in this place, and it would likely be for much longer. Ch'ot was a place no one went to, save for their Final Hunt, at the end of their Path.

Rattling in annoyance, he turned away from the screen and moved back into the ship, only to be passed up by the female who quickly darted into the training room, like she was being stealthy about it. He clicked a tusk in amusement.

At the very least, the life the two of them lead now had not dampened her spirits. She had grown accustomed to him and his ways, she spoke fluidly now, no longer requiring the clicking of her fingers, and she had earned the respect of other hunters, finally. No, rather than bring her down, Hannah seemed to finally be flourishing in a life on the Path.

For him, it felt like she was finally where she had always belonged. His only concern, a fear he would never admit to, that twisted his gut and tightened his chest, was the short duration of a human lifetime.

He shook his regret away, seeing the small space that had been left open to the training room, and he chuckled, crouched, and approached silently.

He would enjoy her company for as long as possible.


	2. Warmth

He needed to get warm. There was always a good way. She waited by the door, crouched, combistick in hand. It was obvious he was cold, and as reptile-like as he was it meant that his energy was drained. He ate so much more than she had previously seen, much like when she had rescued him. He had called this place 'hell,' and she could very easily see the toll it took on him.

They had been here nearly a year at this point, and she had begun to worry about him since the first week passed with no rescue. He was true yautja through it all, never showing his discomfort, continuing on hunting and training, just as he had for these past ten years. It was the life they led; him clanless, and her a pyode amedha, no longer prey, not yet predator.

She smiled in anticipation as she heard him move and waited. It was one of the indicators that he was off his game, that this planet was bad for him to be on; the fact that she could often hear him moving. Then, she heard nothing, though she strained. Rather than think he hadn't noticed her, or had given up, her muscles tensed, ready. A blur whipped around the corner and came right at her. Jar-hidda was no fool; he knew a trap when it was there, waiting.

His fingers curled around the shaft of the combistick and he roared as he fought for control over it, twisting and throwing Hannah about. Finally she relinquished it, dashing to the wall and grabbing his glaive. She heard the thundering steps behind her and turned in time to extend the glaive and deflect the blow to the ground.

She tumbled to the side, swinging the long-end of the glaive to strike at his ankle. He stepped back deftly, avoiding the blade tip and arching his arm, going for the opening she left near the top of her head. The tip grazed into her hair and across her shoulder, and she could feel the irritating tingle of blood as it started to creep through the follicles.

She had to maneuver herself away from the strike, which had left her in an awful position. He had the upper hand and he was not about to relinquish it. Hannah had to dance away from a back-handed swing that cut through her kilt and left a thin line at the top of her breast. She had no option to retreat, to buy her just that hair of a second to get her footing. He was a breath behind her, intent on not giving her the time to gather herself together, but a breath was all she needed.

It always amazed Hannah how the alien metal rang like crystal, the sound reverberating melodiously against her ears. She recovered from the first blocked strike and shifted the glaive to reflect a second, swinging the lower-end of the weapon up towards Jar-hidda's inner thigh, forcing him to twist the combistick to block. It was definitely awkward fighting with each-others weapons, his much larger than the combi-stick he had made to her size. She had half a mind to call time-out so that they could switch. But working hard was half the point.

The impasse lasted for mere seconds before the two _sain'ja_ parted to regard and strategize. She was working up a sweat, and she could see a light sheen on his steeled muscles as well. Good.

He in turn looked her over. She was sure the heat of her body was showing her strain; her heart was pumping causing hot blood to run through her veins, just as surely as his waltzed with excitement. There was resolve in every part of her stance. She was as still as a statue, her breathing deep and controlled. Hannah was smart, in many regards more intelligent than he, but she was also down to earth, with an iron conviction, and a humor much like his own. He, in turn, was unlike other hunters, someone she could talk practically to, who understood emotion a bit better than as something to be shunned.

She had no greater friend in the universe.

He rattled in warning and shifted his stance. She gave him a cocky grin. She was planning something, he knew it, and he wasn't going to give her the time for it. Hannah, however, was ready, and when he advanced she stepped away, silent and graceful. She laughed at his awe; that she expected him to strike and where, or maybe she had moved just that quickly. It was of course all thanks to his training, after all. Either way he growled, she laughed.

The training room was decidedly far too small to be a competent battle ground, especially the care needed to not hit the trophies, but going outside was out of the question. So she continued to dance, just out of reach as he advanced and gliding along the walls of the room, forcing him to follow. She could tell he was irritated at falling for her ploy, as he stopped to rethink his strategy. Hannah swerved on the ball of her foot and struck out, the glaive grazing his crest, bright glowing blood trickling down his brow and to his mandibles.

His roar beat against her ears and deafened her momentarily, as it always did when she drew blood from him and he started to take her seriously. With renewed ferocity he advanced, bringing out the true warrior and not the sparring partner. Like an avalanche he hurtled towards her, pushing her back, strikes so fierce her hands felt numb from impact. She could barely keep up with blocking, the glaive stuck at the center of her mass where a simple twist as all she could accomplish to do away with the worst of the blows.

Foolishly, she lost track of how many steps she had taken and she felt her back against the wall, between two trophies. The glaive was up in an instant, crossing her body diagonally as the shaft of the glaive was thrust towards her, striking her like a jackhammer and knocking a good deal of wind out of her.

She gasped to recover. The sharp-tasting heated breath of the yautja pelting her face, unhindered by sharp teeth and mandibles, reminding her that he was a predator. The heat from his body washed over her in waves. She could see the subtle twitches of the muscles in his arms, and saw a single bead of sweat roll down his chest, navigating the small spines that trailed down his body to his kilt. She coughed, which turned into a laugh.

"I yield," she gasped and he grunted.

"Of course you do," the three tusks reached out and stroked her face and she sputtered and swatted him away with her hand. He walked away laughing, putting the weapons away.

"As fun as it is to beat you little telide," he grunted and she scoffed, "I am tired."

"Getting older and uglier," Hannah chimed and Jar-hidda growled.

"I'm not old!"

She laughed on her way down the hallway, not hearing Jar-hidda until he shouldered her against the wall then thundered down to the room.

She laughed and kept her pace. She was getting old, too, after all.

She hoped his 'gentle brush,' hadn't meant that he also intended to have another fight for the bed. She was most relieved to find him stripped to his loincloth, holding the large white pelt up so that the bed was uncovered. Hannah nodded in thanks and stripped, letting the kilts lay where she untied them and half-jumped into the bed, snuggling down into the furs.

A heavy shift said Jar-hidda had lain down behind them, and the soft fur was soon laid over the top of them. It was cold, like a neglected sheet, and she knew it would take some time to gather her body heat to be comfortable. Frowning she shifted back until her back found the front of the alien, little rubbery spines brushing her skin. Her little body fit easily against his. This was only half for her benefit. He needed her constantly to stay warm enough to be comfortable, especially while sleeping, though he'd never admit it.

A massive arm wrapped around her waist and she felt his breath in her hair as he grumbled something too low for her to understand, but was aware it was the yautja version of 'sweet nothings.'

"I swear Jolly," she exclaimed, elbowing him in the ribs, earning a laugh, "if you try to mate me I will kick your crotch so hard you won't be able to breed."

Jar-hidda grunted unamused, shifting so that his head was at a more natural angle on the bed, "that isn't funny."

"Neither is your nok-long rod spearing my body!"

Jar-hidda laughed again and Hannah smiled, shifting back down and letting the weight settle on her. It didn't take long for the alien to fall asleep. Poor guy. She hoped they got help soon. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, comfortably encircled in heat.

Afterall, he hadn't moved his arm, and she saw no reason to escape it.


	3. The Hunt

Hannah was methodical with her dressing. Long gone where the days where she did anything in uncalculated haste. The wire mesh suit was the first thing to go on over her bare skin, followed by her loincloth and codpiece. She secured the leather belts across her chest and rolled her shoulder under the pauldrons now covering them. A similar piece of armor, slatted like scales went over her breasts and the leather cords, pressing them down tight against her body. Metal bracers went over each wrist, the one that secured the two tribal blades on her right, the computer on her left, also fitted with wristblades. To her feet she fastened her metal boots and the greaves going up to her knees.

Tightening the straps to her armor, she checked to make sure that everything was moving appropriately when she heard a grumble behind her. She looked over her shoulder and stood to her full height, shoulders back and smirk wrinkling the corner of her eye.

"What are you doing?" Jar-hidda was in the doorway, dressed in his mesh suit and his kilt, but nothing else. He was holding a steaming cup of red liquid; the blood wine that Hannah had still not quite gotten a taste for.

"Getting ready for a hunt," she said and walked over to the weapon rack, selecting her special combistick. It retracted in her hand and she set it on her back, reaching for her personal burner and med-kit.

Jar-hidda rattled as she secured these to her back as well and her trophy cleaning kit to her hip.

"What will you be hunting?"

Hannah smiled and turned, heading towards the door.

"You," she said, squeezing past without touching him, other than to reach her hand up and draw two fingers very lightly just under the last rung of his spiral metal necklace. She felt him tense and she chuckled, "suit up Jolly."

She jogged down the hallway to the door. She slammed her hand to open the door and rushed out. It was slightly blizzardy. The flakes were large and fell heavy enough that the distance was lost from sight, but anything within one hundred _nok_ would be easily seen. Into the tundra she ran, ignoring the brief licks of cold that where batted away by heat from her mesh suit.

Every day was like this, another hunt, something to keep busy and warm. There was little on the planet itself to hunt, so all they had was each other. Yesterday he hunted her, today she hunted him.

She ran towards the forest, knowing this side of it fairly well, but she hoped to get to a new area and hunt there since Jar-hidda also knew that side of the forest. She had given herself more than enough of a head start. Even if Jar-hidda dressed quickly, it took him at least twenty minutes to be fully ready.

After this year on the planet, Hannah had all but given up thinking yautja would come to help them. Jar-hidda hadn't, but he would live longer than she would. She had resigned to this fate, somewhat, and this place was as much home as Earth had been.

Which would mean that she wouldn't care if they left it behind tomorrow, but that was beside the point.

She didn't worry too much about tracks. The snow was so cold that the heat from her trail would be gone very soon, and Jar-hidda would have to follow a scent trail, which would be difficult to do in the shifting winds. She wasn't going to make this easy on him. This was _her_ hunt afterall.

She knew that she couldn't keep her lead forever. Jar-hidda was behind but he was faster than her. She was soon in an unfamiliar part of the forest and took to the trees, careful to climb up the side that did not have snow caked on it. Brushed-off snow would be a sure track for Jar-hidda to follow. She climbed up, a difficult feat when the lowest branch was three-times as high off the ground as Jar-hidda was tall.

It was a shock to her that any kind of plants lived on this planet, but such was the way of life.

Hannah had to rub feeling back into her fingers by the time she was crouched on the low branch and she looked down at the ground. She crouched low when she saw a wave in the snow. Jar-hidda was cloaked, he wasn't taking this lightly. Perfect. But she had hunted with him so long she knew to look for that shimmer, that distortion. Her advantage was she could see him far away; he could not unless he targeted her with his mask. She laid down flat on the tree, purposefully laying in the snow and dialing down the heat on her mesh.

She watched the shimmer move closer, a near-invisible force making deep prints in the snow. He moved past her, quietly and then moved beneath her. She turned her head to follow his trail. He was a few steps away when he knew he had lost her trail, because he stopped. Hannah took her combistick, pressing the button that bent the metal and attached the metal chord to the ends. She notched an arrow from the pack that opened on her back and drew it back. She aimed it at the middle of the shimmer, then judged her aim and moved the point of the arrow a few inches to the left.

She saw the shimmer react to the sound of the string snapping but he didn't get away in time. A thin stream of glowing green appeared and small crackling bolts danced around, revealing the yautja as he touched the wound on his arm and looked at the blood.

He looked up straight at her and roared.

Hannah smiled and took off down the branch, such a thick and sturdy thing that it didn't even quiver under her weight. But it shattered to pieces and burned to the heat of the blast from Jar-hidda's burner.

Hannah was on another branch before the one she had been on fell to the ground, blazing with blue and orange flame. She ran past the trunk of the tree as another burner blast destroyed the branch under her again.

She could hear Jar-hidda following her, and she kept to a straight line, making sure to dance in and out of his vision by weaving around the tree trunks. Just when she set up a pattern, she stopped with her back pressed against the snow packed on the wood and drew her bow back. Sure enough the hunter ran ahead and stopped, rattling and taking a defensive position. She loosed another arrow, nicking his leg just as he jumped and tumbled to the side causing snow to spray all around him. This time he turned instantly and let out a bolt of fire. She dodged off the tree and to a lower branch, slipping a bit on the snow.

She cursed, knowing in a split second what was going to happen. Before she could recover and move to another branch the wood exploded beside her, where the limb melded with the trunk. She and the branch crashed to the ground cushioned by the snow. She jumped away as the fire began to quickly consume the wood and she turned, pressing the button on her bow and converting it back into a combistick.

She turned just in time to deflect Jar-hidda's glaive first to one side, then to block as the other end came swinging up at her, a move he was fond of, one she recognized in the tenseness of his muscles. The sharp intricate blade of the weapon had been stopped a hair's breadth from her thigh, and she felt the rough leather of the loin cloth slide from her hips.

She smiled at the cold expressionless face of his mask. The grey eyes reflecting the firelight behind her. He was teasing her, she knew it.

With a ringing crystalline sound his wristblades shot out, grazing her shoulder. She hissed and retreated, putting distance between her and him, and the burning branch at her back. She touched her wounded shoulder, the cut interrupted here and there where the mesh had protected her. She looked at Jar-hidda who rattled in good humor. She smiled and took her combistick, planting it in the ground.

Her own wristblades rang out as she unsheathed them and took her stance. Jar-hidda rattled, tilting his head, his dreads sliding along his shoulder. He stabbed the glaive into the ground. He crouched, turning his body so that his blades were angled behind him, and his fist was in front of him, loosely clenched.

Neither of them moved. She felt the cold cause goosebumps crawl up her skin. Jar-hidda's body had no such reaction. Every muscle was still as stone. His body as immovable as marble. But she knew better. She knew that within a blinding fire was burning in his chest. For all his fortitude, she knew the real Jar-hidda, and that's what she liked.

She knew why he wasn't making a move. With the burning tree behind her, her heat was hidden, he would be unable to see or read her moves. It would be better for her to come to him. She had no intention of giving him that advantage.

On her shoulder her own blaster awakened and turned, burning holes into the surrounding trees. Jar-hidda's dreads flared around his head as he looked left and right as branches and trees collapsed to the ground, creating a ring of fire around them.

Once the sound of crashing ceased, his head slowly turned to look at her, the sound of her blaster swiveling back into its resting position whining in her ear. She had not moved an inch from her stance.

"Well?" she purred. Jar-hidda rattled a growl.

Her hunt hadn't lasted long, but she took solace that she had his back in her sights, and she could have taken the shot. Jar-hidda charged, kicking up blinding white snow. She waited until the last second before dodging out of the way, wristblades flashing out, the tips dragging across his stomach. She kept the wound intentionally light as she tumbled away, flipping to face him.

They were, after all, not actually trying to kill each other. He could have easily hit her with the burner.

He growled and turned rumbling deep in his chest. Hannah laughed.

The human began to circle, keeping herself close to the flames, keeping herself difficult to see, even though the intense heat was causing sweat to run down her shoulder blades and back. Jar-hidda's blood was tracing lines down his stomach as he watched, planning his next move carefully. He stayed still as she circled, not falling for her trap. She would not simply walk up to him, he knew this. She stopped a distance away. His gaze was on her. She stood, feeling the stalemate between them.

Then Jar-hidda whirled, lifting up into the air and spinning, light glinting off the metal beads in his tresses. Hannah stumbled back but could not dodge least she throw herself into the flames. She hadn't accounted for that. She held her wristblades to block but still felt the sharp tips dig to her chest. His arm made the complete swing and the knot to the kilt around her chest fell away, but the damage was absorbed by her brassiere-armor.

Hannah reflexively grabbed the falling kilt, wrenching it out from under the armor and swung it to the fire causing a flare that turned Jar-hidda's gaze as it blinded him. She threw her shoulder into the center of his chest, causing him to stumble back. She backed away, giving her enough room to retaliate with her own wristblades. There was a snap and his codpiece fell, leaving the tattered edges of his leather loincloth to fall loose.

"Hannah," Jar-hidda warned but the human woman laughed. It was her favorite joke.

The unamused yautja stepped forward and lashed out, his blades sliding against hers, keeping the metal centimeters away from her skin. The weapons sang as they danced against each other, blow after blow. Red and bright green blood colored the snow in thin little streaks as they fought over, lost and won ground.

Hannah was gasping for breath now, slick with sweat and blood while Jar-hidda seemed unfazed, one of the many qualities of the warrior that she admired. Still she smiled. She danced out of the way of his blade, causing it to ring against her own codpiece as she dashed towards a burning tree. Jar-hidda was in swift pursuit, surely not expecting what she had planned, but wanting to avoid it nonetheless.

Once she got to the tree she slid to a crouch, letting her momentum carry her to the trunk of the tree. She pressed her feet against the base where it was free of flames, giving her the power she needed to slam her shoulder into his legs as he tried to stop. His heavy body fell into the snow and she scrambled up to pin his arms. She was too slow and a clawed hand gripped her wrist. His body heaved, throwing her to the side and reversing their positions, pressing her back into the snow, fingers tightening around her wrist as she tried to slide free. He rattled his victory behind his mask, but he forgot that she had a hand free still.

The butt of her palm slammed into his collarbone, causing the yautja to howl and reel back away from her, favoring the wound for just a second, and it was all she needed. She curled and sprung from her position slamming her body weight against his chest and forcing him back again. She had her dagger in her hand as he hit the snow and had the point to his throat.

He froze, a claws drawing red lines against her leg as he calculated his breathing to not have the point of the dagger pierce his skin.

"Hannah…," she heard him say without moving his mandibles, the sound being entirely made by the tense muscles in his neck.

She smirked down at him, an expression she knew he could see with his mask. He rumbled in his chest as Hannah drew the tip of the dagger down the center of his chest, weaving through the greying hairs there. She felt him shudder as the cool metal moved to the very edge of the loincloth he wore, and with little effort cut the threads that held it. Seemed only fair.

Jar-hidda began to growl in warning, the hand on her leg tightening. She gave him a predatory grin.

They were interrupted suddenly by a shadow flying overhead, plunging them into unbearable cold for a moment and they both looked up at a yautjan ship heading in the direction of their ship. Rescue had come at last.

For better or worse.


	4. Salvation

By the time they returned to the ship, carrying their tattered loincloths, the other yautja's ship had landed nearby. Hannah couldn't see the yautja yet, the ship hadn't even opened. She glanced over it but couldn't tell what clan it belonged to, she knew that the ship-type was, a ner'uda. They were going to be dealing with one yautja, it was both a good and a bad thing, good in that it would make negotiations easy, bad in that likely he wouldn't even have what it was they needed.

Personal ships rarely had spare parts.

Hannah eyed the ship through the lenses of her mask before looking to Jar-hidda, "any idea who it is?"

"It's Vor'mekta's ship."

Hannah was surprised, she was expecting that he at best knew the clan it belonged to, not the actual individual. What were the odds that the one person to came across their distress signal would be someone he knew?

"Last I had heard, he had left to go on his final hunt. The planet has apparently failed to kill him."

Hannah frowned, something didn't add up. If he had been on this planet the whole time, why did it take nearly a year to get to them?

Hannah looked to their ship, "should we put some clothes on first?"

Jar-hidda scoffed, "why? He won't care," she did, sort of. She had mostly gotten used to the 'clothing as decoration' mentality the yautja had, but couldn't shake the last vestiges of ingrained shyness with her own nudity with anyone other than Jar-hidda.

"Because you're _cold_ ," Hannah teased as her excuse, grinning and he rattled in warning.

"I'm fine."

Hannah didn't push it further, instead approaching the ship with Jar-hidda, ready to great this old warrior. The side of the ship opened and someone stepped down, armed, armored, appropriately scarred, with a familiar mask.

But it was not a yautja.

Hannah froze in her steps, looking at another human, male.

Jar-hidda was also dead silent beside her, looking at him with a curious rattle.

"I'm guessing that's not Vor'mekta," Hannah said and Jar-hidda gave a cautious growl.

Hannah lifted a hand to the man, the hand that held the tatters of her loincloth, and looked down at herself. She tied the loincloth about herself as best she could; she didn't know who this man was. Was he like Little Fighter who had been raised by yautja? Or was he like her, more or less new to this kind of life.

The male seemed to see her finally and slowed on his descent into the snow, coming to a stop at the very base of the ramp. Hannah looked to Jar-hidda, who pounded his chest in greeting. The man returned it, then reached up and removed his mask. Hannah's eyes immediately fell on the clan symbol above his eye.

"I caught your signal," the man said in perfect yautjan. So, Little Fighter level then. This seemed to happen more often than Hannah initially thought.

She gave the male a once-over; long black hair was wrapped tightly in braided tresses, adorned with the usual metal ring decorations. Rings protected his neck. He was darker skinned than her, a stark contrast against the snow. His body was well built, what she would expect of yautja, but with the slightness that came with the restrictions of the human body. His eyes were brown, like hers. He was taller than her but shorter than Jolly, unsurprisingly.

"Thank you for answering the call," Hannah said, as Jar-hidda seemed to be having trouble speaking. The man looked at her and greeted her as well. She shook her head, "no need sain'ja, I am not blooded."

He tilted his head, a quick sharp motion showing curiosity that solidified in Hannah's mind that he had been raised yautjan since childhood.

"That is the ship of an old warrior," Jar-hidda finally spoke and the young man clicked in agreement.

"He was Vor'mekta, my sire, he had his final hunt on this planet," the man revealed, "my name is Neijin-thei-de."

'Good Death'? Hannah cocked an eyebrow and looked at Jar-hidda who inclined his head.

"I'm Jar-hidda," he responded simply, allowing Hannah to introduce herself.

"They call me Numyakuo'ide," she introduced with her 'yautjan' name, as it was unlikely that, if he had heard of her at all, he would have heard the name 'Hannah.'

He nodded to her, "I've heard of you both."

He was very eloquent, even for the restrictions of the yautjan language. He spoke like he was much older than even Jar-hidda, it reminded her of the arbiter Bhu'ja-zhu-ju'dha.

Neijin-thei-de approached Jar-hidda, putting his mask on his belt, looking up at the much larger yautja, "what is it that you need?"

Jar-hidda rattled and then clicked to bid the man to follow. Hannah turned also to head into the ship, parting from the males to go to the room, slapping the wet shreds of cloth into the shower area and getting dressed in dry kilts. She grabbed one for Jar-hidda and met back up with them in the cockpit where Neijin-thei-de was looking over the broken device.

Jar-hidda inclined his head in thanks to Hannah and tied the kilt around his waist as the human yautja finished his inspection and handed Jar-hidda the device, glancing at Hannah again; a gaze that lingered longer than would have been normal. She frowned, lifting and removing her own mask, setting it on her hip. She didn't blame him though, she had pretty much the same reaction to meeting Little Fighter.

"Do you happen to have extras of these?" she asked and he continued to stare at her.

"I admit that I'm uncertain. I will check my inventory and return to let you know," he looked to Jar-hidda again, "at the very least, if I don't have this device I have the capability of going to retrieve one from my clan. I'm certain they would not mind parting one for the legendary Jar-hidda," he looked to Hannah again, then inclined his head to Jar-hidda, turning to leave the ship.

"If simply asking for a favor doesn't work," Hannah said, stopping him, "we have many things to trade."

Neijin-thei-de looked at her and she returned his gaze with a serious expression, "Jar-hidda's status isn't always enough to get what we need, especially with my presence sullying his reputation for some."

The human yautja tilted his head again, brow furrowing. Hannah nodded, affirming that she was not joking. Having earned her own reputation among the yautja had been bittersweet, some still believed her to be little more than scum on the bottom of Jar-hidda's sandal, others treated her with the same respect that Jar-hidda was: an unblooded yautja. Hannah couldn't know which way it was with Neijin-thei-de's clan.

He inclined his head to her, "I understand," and returned to leaving the ship. Hannah watched after him and heard Jar-hidda rattle beside her.

"It's been a while since we've seen a human yautja."

"Not since Little Fighter," she agreed, looking over at Jar-hidda who finally removed his mask.

"First male though," he teased with a yautjan grin.

Hannah scoffed, "what difference does that make?"

The yautja laughed and set the broken device back in the spot he had been keeping it.

"What if he wants to mate with you?" he questioned, still teasing.

"That would be beneath him," Hannah said, smacking the back of her hand against his shoulder, "I'm not blooded."

"I get mated all the time being unblooded," he replied, she knew all to well that he didn't particularly _enjoy_ that fact of his life.

" _You_ don't get much of a choice," she teased back, "besides, I'm ugly, he'd more want to go for big tall and tusky."

Jar-hidda scoffed this time, clicking his tusks, sitting down in the seat of the cockpit, "you don't know that, you might be just what he's into: small, thin and easily handled."

"'Easily handled' huh?" she hissed and Jar-hidda grinned.

"You'll pay for that one," she said, shoving his shoulder, "later once your negotiations with Neijin-thei-de are done."

She heard Jar-hidda laugh as she went to the kitchen to get some warm drink for the three of them. She wasn't particularly used to playing hostess, Jar-hidda often encouraged her to not as it was too much like she was an eta, but given that she was as ready to be off this planet as her friend was, she would make nice with the human yautja.

She paused after setting the pot on the hotplate and thought for a moment. Just how many human yautja were there in the universe? Hannah had only known of two: Little Fighter and Alexa Woods. Depending on how one counted it Hannah herself was something of a human yautja, just unblooded, and would always remain so per her deal with Jar-hidda.

Where had Neijin-thei-de come from? If she wagered a guess just based on his appearance, she would say north-eastern Africa, but he could just as well have come from the middle east, Europe or North America. Or anywhere in the world really. She hummed in thought. How common was it for a yautja to just pick up a human being and decide to raise it?

She was feeling less and less unique as time went on. It didn't really bother her that she wasn't so 'special' but she did have to wonder, just how many other humans were there in the universe?


	5. Be Our Guest

Neijin-thei-de had returned after a time, entering the ship just a brief moment after tapping on the side, and immediately receiving a warm blood wine drink from Hannah. He looked first at the offered drink, then at Hannah, who smirked at him for his seeming apprehension.

"It's not poisoned," she joked.

He looked again to the drink before accepting it, looking again to her. She wondered if his stoic expression was a result of his yautjan upbringing, but then recalled that Little Fighter made very human facial expressions when Hannah was with her.

Maybe Neijin-thei-de was just stoic.

"Drink up, it will warm you up fast," she said, turning to lead him to Jar-hidda, also offering her friend one of the drinks. He glared at her for playing hostess.

"I'm used to the cold," was what the human sain'ja said, though he drank anyway, afterwards saying, "thank you, though."

"Used to the cold?" Jar-hidda almost spat, and Hannah smiled, remembering his time in her house when they had been snowed in.

"I was raised here," Neijin-thei-de answered the older yautja. Hannah paralleled Jah-hidda's shock, though in her own human way.

Jar-hidda shuddered, probably at the though of living an entire childhood on this hell and quickly changed the subject.

"Did you find the parts?"

"The only ones I have are the ones running my ship," Neijin-thei-de admitted.

Her friend clicked his tusks in frustration, then nodded in acceptance, "I should have guessed that outcome."

"But as I said, I'm able to go to my clan and get spare parts for you," he looked to Hannah, "you said that you had items of trade, in case they are less warm to the idea?"

"Yes," Hannah said, taking a drink of the blood wine, making a face and then setting her cup down, "follow me."

She felt her chest warm from the drink as she led him to the trophy room, opening up the floor panel and rooting around inside. She found a pelt, grey in color but very very soft, something a female would probably want and pulled it out to hand it to Neijin-thei-de, finding him looking at the trophies, particularly the human skulls.

"Most of that wall, and that one are Jar-hidda's," she said, indicating the one he was looking at and a short one to the side, "some of that wall and that wall there are mine."

"Impressive," he said with a click, looking at her side, "not many seasons."

"I haven't been at this for very long," she admitted with a grin, folding the pelt and setting it aside, doing the same with a few other soft furs. She reached in to grab more, pulling out some tanned leathers that the males of the clan may find useful.

She looked up and found the sain'ja staring at her unblinkingly, and it made her slightly nervous, remembering Jolly's joke of the man offering to mate her.

She really hoped he didn't.

She glanced over to Jar-hidda, who was standing just beyond the doorway, staring at Neijin-thei-de in turn. He then looked to Hannah and grinned.

She scoffed, a noise that made the human sain'ja blink, finally, and pulled out several braided strings of bones and small skulls.

"Would any of your clan like these?" she asked because some were particular about only wearing jewelry they made themselves from their own kills, others didn't care as much.

"Some would, yes," he answered simply, again.

Nodding, she added them to the small pile and gauged it over, before turning to her friend.

"Do you think this will be enough?"

"Should be," rattled Jar-hidda, "if not, we can visit the clan after to make up the deficit."

Neijin-thei-de gave a single nod and moved forward, grabbing the entire pile in a single sweep of his arms.

"I'll leave right away," he said to Jar-hidda, "you've endured long enough on this place."

"Thank you," Jar-hidda rattled sincerely, and Hannah gave him a teasing grin, receiving a blow to her arm in repayment.

The two of them followed the human sain'ja to the top of the ramp and watched him carry everything into the snow and into his ship without word or ceremony. They watched the ramp lift and the opening close, and then soon after the ship ascended in a flurry of snow and silently took off into the darkened sky.

Jar-hidda quickly shut their own ship and shook his head in distaste at the cold, then grinned over at Hannah.

"He wants you."

"No."

"He wants to know what it's like."

"No."

"You'd be the most gentle female he's ever mated."

"I swear to god Jolly."

"If he's ever mated. You could very well be his first—."

Hannah struck Jar-hidda's shoulder as hard as she could, and then a blow to his chest. She showed no intent to stop hitting him, though she was having trouble holding back laughter and hiding a smile.

Jar-hidda deflected and dodged her blows, backing up through the ship until he finally caught her wrists and rattled at her in amusement. She could definitely not hide her grin, wrenching her wrists free, a little winded.

"I think I need to sit down," she exhaled with a heavy sigh, shaking her head at her friend and moving to the trophy room again. She sat cross-legged on the ground and worked to control her breathing, then closed her eyes to try to meditate, hearing Jar-hidda come inside and join her.

Hannah had gotten much better at this part of the Path over the years, but her thoughts continued to be distracted, until finally, after at least a half hour, she shifted out of position, resting an arm on her leg and staring at her trophies. In addition to 'godzilla,' her first r'ka skull and the skull of Ret'pure-wu, she had obtained many others over the years, even one from this planet; two more r'ka skulls, the skull of a vaguely apish cyclopes creature, the skull of a resh'skama, a giant serpent's skull, and the skull of some canine-feline hybrid-looking thing whose bright red and orange pelt she had also kept.

At only nine seasons, she was practically an infant compared to other yautja, but her wall was beginning to look about as impressive as Jar-hidda's. She was missing one key trophy that he and almost all other yautja had: human skulls.

Jolly's human trophies no longer bothered her like they used to, but she still considered the people that they used to be, people just like her, Neijin-thei-de, Alexa and Little Fighter.

"Troubled?" she heard Jar-hidda ask and she looked back at her friend, one golden eye barely open and looking at her.

"Sort of," she admitted, looking past him at the skulls on Jar-hidda's wall. He opened both eyes and glanced over at them as well, "we're almost out of room," she commented.

Jar-hidda clicked in agreement and shifted out of his meditative stance and looked at her again, his tresses falling over his shoulders, "what's on your mind?"

"Thinking of humans," she admitted, "earth humans specifically. Why it is that some of us make the cut to be yautja and others are only prey."

Jar-hidda rattled in understanding, looking over at his human trophies. She had, by now, learned about all of them, who they were and how they came to be on his wall, Butch and Guy being the exceptions. She was there for their harvest.

"Honestly," he said after a moment, "luck probably plays a large part of it."

Hannah chuckled, "not fate or destiny?"

Jar-hidda clicked sharply, "the goddesses are playing a very cruel prank if it was fate that brought you on my Path!" he protested and Hannah scoffed, leaning over, and then more so as he leaned away from her, to smack his arm.

"I'm not that big of a pain in the ass!" she protested and Jar-hidda snatched her wrist in his hand, dragging her effortlessly from his spot to put her into a head-lock.

"You have caused me so much trouble!" he said in turn and Hannah, grinned, struggling against his grip.

"Admit it! You would be bored out of your mind if I wasn't here!"

Jar-hidda chuckled, squeezed threateningly, before half-releasing half-pushing her away so that he could stand. Hannah laid flat on the ground, making a dramatic appearance of catching her breath, but her smile faded and she tilted his head as her friend stared at the wall.

"I would be."

He admitted this solemnly. Hannah pushed herself up onto her elbows and then frowned and stood, touching his shoulder.

"I still have a lot of time left," she tried to console, "I'm only fifty, give or take the weirdness of how time works in the void."

Jar-hidda nodded once silently and Hannah frowned. She knew this was more troubling to him than just losing a person to age. He had what some would consider an unhealthy attachment to her. Yautja weren't supposed to have strong bonds like those of friendship as it could distract from the hunt and the Path, compromising their honor. It was something he struggled with, and there was not much she could, or even wanted to do to help.

Some of the tenets of the Path were very stupid in her opinion.

She really did cause him a lot of trouble.

Sighing, Hannah bumped her head against his arm, lacking the height to bump it against his crest, and left his side, heading out of the training room and to the kitchen to prepare food. After an earl-morning hunt/training exercise and how cold it still was, Jar-hidda had to be famished.

It was a good sentiment knowing that salvation was more assuredly eventual, but Hannah couldn't know when exactly Neijin-thei-de would return; how far he had to travel to his clan and then back, even with the speed of a fully-functioning ship.

The Kut-kuni had been salvaged for them by the Dto Kv'var-de clan, repaired to top shape as some kind of apology for one of their own turning bad blood, nearly killing them and all but destroying the vessel. Not in that order.

But that was ten 'years' ago, and it was still an old ship. Things had once again gone to semi-regularly malfunctioning. Hannah at this point now knew almost as much about repairing the ship as Jar-hidda did.

Hannah didn't cook the meat for very long, just long enough for the spices she had chosen to cook in. She had since gotten used to eating a nearly raw diet living with Jar-hidda, putting her immune system to work.

The taste of the cooking meat in the air soon drew Jar-hidda to the kitchen and he sat down, looking as tired as she expected, and smiled at him devilishly as she gave him a portion or the meat.

"Here you are old man."

Jar-hidda grunted, snatching the meat from her and rattling in warning. She laughed, taking her portion and began eating. It was a quiet meal, unusually so. They were both lost in their own thoughts, concerned about the future for entirely different reasons.

"How long do you think it will take Neijin-thei-de to return?" she asked to break the silence.

"Vor'mekta's clan is far from here," he answered instantly, then looked up, his tusks feeding a strip of meat to his mouth, "a few day's of this planet's time."

Hannah nodded and bit into her meat again. That gave them some time to calm down and recover before he returned.

"Was Vor'mekta the kind to raise a human?" she asked and Jar-hidda rattled.

"No, not as I knew him. Humans are prey and little else, he shared that mentality as al—, as most yautja do."

Hannah heard his quick correction and chuckled. With so many exceptions to the rule, it was difficult now to say what 'all' yautja thought.

"Where should we go after the Kut-kuni is fixed?"

Jar-hidda rattled and grinned, "somewhere _warm_."

Hannah laughed; she should have guessed.


	6. Spectrum

It was indeed a few days before Neijin-thei-de returned. Both Hannah and Jar-hidda were anxious; so very ready to get off this eternally cold planet. When the human yautja stepped off his ship, he carried with him the same trade items they had given and returned them to them. This confused Hannah a bit, certain that he would have needed them to get the part, but accepted them nonetheless and returned them to their cache.

"Here is the part, honored Jar-hidda," he said, handing over the exact replica of the part that had malfunctioned. It looked no different, and Hannah wasn't certain how this one was perfectly fine where the other was broken. Probably something internal that was damaged. Jar-hidda trilled despite himself, then tilted his head.

"Thank you Neijin-thei-de," he said and backed away respectfully before turning and heading to make the repairs right away.

Poor old man.

"Your clan was fine with just giving us the part?" she questioned, watching Jar-hidda vanish from view.

"Given your dire situation, I chose to save going to my clan as a last resort," he revealed, looking back at her, "in all honesty I'm not very much in their good graces either. I broadcasted a message to see who would be willing to give a part and it was the Guan-mi clan who answered. The clan leader asked only that they receive a visit from the legendary Jar-hidda and Numyakuo'ide, in return for the piece."

Hannah nodded. She would have to let Jar-hidda know there was a price afterall, likely he would be ordered to mate with the clan's females. He was not going to look forward to that.

Neijin-thei-de fell silent after, staring at her again and the corner of her mouth twitched down.

"I have questions," he rumbled slowly.

Hannah nodded, "I expected that you would, eventually."

Neijin-thei-de clicked and cast his eyes down, reaching for and lifting up one of her hands. She resisted the urge to snatch it back and simply sighed through her nose as he inspected her palm and fingers, comparing them to his own.

"I've not met another like myself, a yautja that is not..."

"Human," she offered and his eyes lifted to her again, "our species is called human."

"Ooman," he struggled and she shook her head.

" _H_ _u_ man. 'Hh,' like 'Jar- _hi_ dda," this was a common mistake she found when speaking to Yautja, seemed that the 'h' sound was not one that was common in the language, causing mispronunciations of not only her people, but her name.

" _Hu_ man," he tried again.

Hannah nodded and took her hand back from him. He stared at her, his gaze hard and intense, one-hundred percent a yautja.

"That means that you see like I do."

"Yes," she offered, predicting where this was going.

"Can you teach me what... what the difference between...," he compared their skin colors, "and our hair, and the clothes we where, what is it that is different between them?"

" _Color_ ," she said in English and Neijin-thei-de blinked. Hannah smirked, "it's called _color_ , we see in a... light that is different from yautja, in turn they see things we cannot. It has it's own pros and cons."

Hannah held her arm out against his, "you would call my skin _tan_ , and yours _brown_ ," she began, then brought forward one of her braids, "whereas my hair is _brown_ , and yours is _black_."

Neijin-thei-de touched his hair, then held his arm to her hair, "but this is not the same _color_."

Hannah shook her head, "no, there are different _shades_ and _tints_ that make the same color into different colors."

Neijin-thei-de seemed perplexed, his brow furrowing and clicking furiously.

"So complicated."

Hannah laughed, "when Jar-hidda brought me along to travel, I had to get used to _not_ describing things by their color. I can understand how the opposite is the same for you."

Neijin-thei-de stared at her again, tilting his head.

He sudden willingness to speak was surprising to her, though he was still very reserved about it.

"He brought you along?" he asked, breaking his silence.

Hannah nodded, "I was raised on the planet Jh'uda-tjauke, it's where humans come from," Hannah shifted her weight to one foot, remembering what Earth had been like, it felt like so much longer ago than just a decade or so.

"Jar-hidda met me on that planet, we fought some humans together and he decided a better life for me was that of a hunter on the Path," she glossed over the details of her saving his life and honor, knowing it was a sore subject for Jar-hidda.

Neijin-thei-de was silent again, save for a rattling low in his throat in thought.

"I've never known this planet."

"I assumed as much. You said you have been raised on this one."

Neijin-thei-de gave a curt nod, then looked sharply into her eyes again, "teach me more _colors_."

Hannah laughed, "there's a lot of _colors_ , you sure you want to spend all that time listening to me?"

The human yautja nodded and grinned, the first time she had seen him do so, "consider it payment for retrieving the part you needed."

Hannah sighed and ran a hand over her hair, "very well, since you put it that way."

She then proceeded to spend several hours with the human yautja, encompassing the time of a meal, which she prepared and shared with him, saving some for Jar-hidda later. The time was mostly spent pointing out and naming colors, and explaining how some things were 'invisible' to yautja that was not to them, such as anything behind a glass or watery surface. Hannah felt the familiarity of when she had met Little Fighter. But Neijin-thei-de also wanted to know more about Earth, and what it was to be human.

"We're prey?" he asked, as Hannah decided to summarize what humans were and what they meant to yautja.

"Normally, yes. It's why you don't see many of us traveling through the void, living among the yautja. Special circumstances cause some of us to be... _more_ than human, I suppose, for me it was fighting alongside Jar-hidda against my own kind, for a human I knew, it was killing a kainde amedha on a chiva that she wasn't supposed to be participating in, and for a hunter named Little Fighter, she had been raised at first to train other yautja how to hunt humans, but earned favor and honor among them before participating in her own chiva."

Neijin-thei-de stared at her, she could guess he was wondering now why he had been chosen, she would question the same in his position. Sadly the person who knew the answer to that was his sire, who had his Final Hunt and was no longer among them.

He made a thoughtful noise and reached up with his hand to touch the scar above his eye. Hannah frowned, looking away from him, not sure what she could say to bring some comfort.

"I think my sire raised me to kill him."

Hannah felt a bit struck by these words and looked at him.

"He had found no challenge on this planet worthy of his Final Hunt, I think he chose me to be that challenge, his Final Hunt," he looked over at Hannah, "in turn he was my chiva. I've since hunted kainde amedha at the behest of my clan to be officially blooded, but his death was much more... important to me than the death of a thoughtless creature."

Hannah bit her lip and looked at her hands. Seemed even being raised by a yautja, Neijin-thei-de struggled with forbidden emotions, something she had observed also in Little Fighter. It seemed that it was just an inborn thing, to be more emotional than what yautja were.

"Why have you not been blooded?" Neijin-thei-de asked and Hannah looked at him. After a moment she grinned devilishly.

"Jar-hidda and I made a deal," she revealed, "I... cannot separate myself from what I used to be, and I care too much for what people are. I can't think of them as honorable prey. In turn that also means that I don't... _really_ have what it takes to be a blooded sain'ja, to hunt the most honorable of prey to build my reputation," she smirked, "so Jar-hidda doesn't want me to even try. So our deal is that I will not go on a chiva to become blooded, and he will not hunt people for as long as I live."

Neijin-thei-de winced, "for as long as you live?"

Hannah nodded and laughed, "I'm old, Neijin-thei-de, and yautja live much much longer than we do. For him, 'as long as I live' will be a very short amount of time."

The human yautja looked at her, rattling thoughtfully, tilting his head, "I'm younger than you."

"By about thirty or so biological years, yes," she was wagering a guess, but Neijin-thei-de looked to be only in his twenties.

The man made a thoughtful noise before standing up and offering his hand to help her up as well, clasping it as a warrior would to another.

"You have taught me much I've never known about myself Numyakuo'ide," he released her hand and stepped back from her respectfully, "I think I need some time to mediate on it all."

Hannah nodded to him, pounding her fist to her chest. He repeated the gesture, and turned, finding his own way to exiting the ship. Hannah shut the door behind him and sighed. Her time with Neijin-thei-de made her wonder how Little Fighter was doing, she hadn't seen her or her clan in a very long time. Maybe, since Yaweo was a warm planet, they could visit there, provided Hannah's transgressions there had been forgiven.

She looked down the hallway and could hear Jar-hidda still working, so opted instead to do some of her own meditating in the training room.


	7. Scot Free

"You done?" Hannah called down into the engine room. It had been some time since she heard any banging or cursing, so decided to check if her friend had finished, or somehow died. Jar-hidda appeared in the hole and used the ladder to climb up out of it.

"Probably," he grunted, "let's go see."

He left the engine-room hatch open just in case he needed to go right in, and Hannah followed him to the cockpit. He all but fell into his chair and began typing on the computer. The red holographoc screen popped up showing a diagram of the Kut-kuni and began to flash certain areas as a diagnostics was run. So far everything was a go, but Jar-hidda waited patiently. Hannah was just as eager and excited to get off the planet as he was, but she understood the need for caution. It was not worth firing up the ship and blasting off only to end up floating aimlessly around because of an entirely foreseeable and preventable thing.

She stood by him, reading the symbols on the screen. Fifty percent of the diagnostics was completed, when a a flash of symbols appeared on the screen.

"Looks like your mate's back," Jar-hidda teased and Hannah slapped his shoulder again, then turned to go open the side of the ship allowing Neijin-thei-de to enter.

"He's at the cockpit—," she began, shutting the door and turning to lead the way, but stopped when he shook his head.

He took a long heavy breath, and she saw that he was carrying with him a skull, long, thin, translucent teeth. She recognized it as a kainde amedha skull, which he moved in front of him, got down on one knee, and placed it before her.

"Please take the presented trophy as my worth as a hunter and warrior," he began, and Hannah tilted her head, looking down at him from the corner of her eye, "I would have the honor of mating with you."

Hannah looked at Neijin-thei-de like he had slapped her, then at the skull he presented like it was a snake, then back up at him like he was going to bite her. In the corner of her eye she saw Jar-hidda approach then stop, still as a statue, and she turned to look at him like she was going to kill him, silently warning him to not utter a single word.

He grinned.

The silence went far too long for something that was ceremony, she knew, and with a heavy sigh she finally reached forward and moved the skull back toward the human sain'ja.

"Neijin-thei-de, flattered as I am that you would even consider, I'm not yautja, I'm not sain'ja, I'm unblooded at best, worthy prey at worst, I'm barely considered female by your people. Mating with me would only be a stain on your honor."

The sain'ja was silent and stoic at her rejection, his head having been bent this entire time, his braids pooling on the metal beneath him. He seemed to be considering her words for a moment before reaching for and lifting the skull from the ground.

"Honestly though, I do appreciate the compliment."

The human yautja stood to his full height, looking down at her stoically. She could read no emotion from him, a true yautja. She inclined her head respectfully. She felt some mild guilt, thinking of how often Neijin-thei-de must have been rejected before.

"Very well," he rumbled low, then glanced at Jar-hidda, "I will take my leave then, good hunting to you both."

Jar-hidda slammed his fist to his chest and tipped his head, then moved to open the ship. Neijin-thei-de repeated the gesture and backed away from Hannah, before turning and going back down the ramp.

Jar-hidda shut the side of the ship and Hannah took a deep breath, sighing heavily. She felt like she had just walked the gauntlet.

Jar hidda rumbled, then after a pause, asked "Why did you reject him?"

Hannah sighed, looking at Jar-hidda straight in his eyes, "because I don't know him Jolly. Maybe back on _Earth_ some humans are content to fuck whoever in order to fill a need or a prize or something, but I need more than that. Fulfilling a need is how I came about; living a life without even knowing who my sire is. As shameful as it is, I need some emotion in that sort of thing, not some consensual hate sex with someone I'm never going to see again. I can't do that Jolly. No offense."

Jar-hidda rumbled then lifted a tusk in a grin, "what if _I_ asked?"

Hannah scrunched her nose and looked Jar-hidda up and down, "dammit Jolly, you're _ugly_ , there needs to also be _some_ physical attraction for it to work too!"

Jar-hidda laughed and turned, walking back towards the cockpit.

Hannah felt a little better as he laughed at her, and followed down to sit beside Jar-hidda's seat as the ship got ready to leave Ch'ot behind forever.

She huffed, still a bit emotionally exhausted after all of that, her eyes watching as Neijin-thei-de's ship passed by and then headed out of sight.

"Hey Jolly," she began and he clicked to show he was listening, "you're my friend, and we tease each other, but you know I don't mean anything by it, right?"

There was a tightness in her chest suddenly, giving Jar-hidda a slightly pained and uncertain expression. They had gotten so comfortable with each other that they often joked verbally and physically in a way that, at least by human standards, would have been considered as flirting. She was concerned now, with the whole interaction that just happened and his joke, that she had been giving him the wrong impression for the past few years.

She heard Jar-hidda chuckle and looked over at her, the ornamets in his dreads chiming as he answered simply, "you're my friend, Hannah, so understand when I say, _you're_ ugly, and I'm afraid that even if I tried I would _break_ you."

That was an intentional stab at her pride and Hannah smirked at him, scrunching her nose, "I don't think you can break me if you tried."

"Oh, I would break you for sure," the yautja said with a grin.

Hannah chuckled, shaking her head, "well, I guess if we can ever get over out mutual _disgust_ of each other we'll find out."

Jar-hidda rumbled deep in his chest, thuroughly amused, and setting her mind at ease. It had been a decade, and nothing had changed.

It was the moment of truth, Hannah felt the ship lift from the ground and watched the snow whip by at speeds that soon made the snow seemingly vanish. The ship cut through the atmosphere like a knife, and then the stars turned into lines, and they were off.

Hannah let out a relieved sigh, "goodbye Ch'ot."

"Finally," the yautja beside her agreed and she looked up at him from where she sat.

It felt like ta year's worth of weight was lifted off her shoulders. She was certain it felt like even more than that for her friend.

"By the way," she spoke up, after a moment of respectful silence, "Neijin-thei-de mentioned that the part had come from the Guan-mi clan," Jar-hidda clicked and tilted his head as she continued, "they requested as payment that we visit them."

Jar-hidda rumbled and tapped the buttons on his seat.

"Alternatively I was thinking we could go to Yaweo and visit Little Fighter."

"And Fire Blood."

"I would really like Fire Blood to not be a part of the equation," Hannah growled.

"Then we don't go to Yaweo."

Hannah sighed with a smile, "fair enough."

Jar-hidda rattled in thought, "Guan-mi...," and he tapped the buttons again, bringing up the red image of a small planet. Hannah's eyes scanned the statistics of it that came out and came to the conclusion very quickly: backwater. She hummed uncertain.

"Well, the request didn't say we had to go right away," she offered and Jar-hidda nodded, setting course instead for a closer, and warmer, planet.

"Plus time is different in the void," she added.

"Very weird."

"And this is on the way."

"True."

"So no one will be angry if we stop by it."

"No."

"Good."

"Yes."

Hannah grinned, managing not to chuckle and stood to her feet. Neijin-thei-de's proposal still weighed on the back of her mind, but she was feeling better now. Jar-hidda had that affect on her.


	8. Darkness

Sorry for the delay in updating, the holidays turned out to be especially busy this year. Here's the chapters I was hoping to put up last month, happy holidays to everyone!

* * *

Emotions of attachment were against the Path. But ever since he was a young pup, he had extreme difficulty severing those kinds of emotions. His attachment to his childhood friend had cost him his fingers, his attachment to his sister had cost him his honor, his attachment to his father's ship constantly cost him precious time and energy, and now... what was his attachment to Hannah going to cost him?

He couldn't imagine. And that was worrying.

He had kept himself calm, somehow, when Neijin-thei-de had propsed to mate with Hannah, but he had felt a deep unsettling emotion, a fear of loss. The human yautja could give Hannah so much more than he could, more than even Hashi would have been able to. With Neijin-thei-de, Hannah could actually have young of her own; offspring to carry on her prestige, her teachings and her memory. He had a deep dread that if she had accepted, it would have lead to her leaving, and that place she had filled in his life becoming cold.

He would have been helpless to stop her, it was her choice. She was not a pet, nor an eta; an unblooded yautja, just as he was. She had just as much freedom to go where she chose and to do as she liked. He had felt an immense relief when she had rejected Neijin-thei-de, even if it was because of an emotional reason, and he felt guilt for being afraid in the first place.

He had just never expected that she would ever be propositioned by anyone, ever, except perhaps Fireblood, with his weird... fetishes. He would do all he could in his power to keep _him_ away from Hannah.

Heading now to a planet he knew well, one he had called 'Cicad,' a name made partially in jest as 'peace' was a thing yautja should never want; only females should know peace, a male's life should be steeped in combat and bloodshed from the day of his birth and well into the afterlife.

Jar-hidda had gone to mediatate while she had gone to sleep.

Her teasing words came to him and hunted him as he tried to clear his mind. While it was true that the idea to proposition Hannah had never really crossed his mind, though he occaisionally had dreams that he would not admit to, it did bring into question the health of his friend. Over the last several seasons they had grown close and comfortable. It was like having a friend like Halkrath-th'syra again, though Jar-hidda could never imagine the arbiter having quite the sense of humor she did.

A sense of humor much like his own.

Hannah and he teased each other regularily. She knew what got him: removing his codpiece, touching his neck. The latter would get _any_ yautja riled, the former was a gesture that always made him cautious. She had kicked him there once, afterall, and in other fights with males, showed no hesitation to do it repeatedly. In turn he teased her back with things he knew bugged her, cutting her kilts up for one, touching his tusks against her skin was another.

These gestures meant nothing more than that: teasing. But he began to doubt, did she, in fact, want something like that, a mate? Not with him, obviously, but someone. Another human. Had she gotten to know Neijin-thei-de would that have been the result?

Rumbling, Jar-hidda shook his head, sending his tresses flying and closed his eyes. He was thinking too much, which always got him into trouble, and which always seemed to be a constant bad habit since bringing Hannah with him. She was a complex creatures, all humans were, and he couldn't just ignore that or she would be miserable. She had already lost Smaug, her beloved pet, because of a bad blood, she had little left to be attached to, little left from her homeworld.

Was she lonely?

He growled, standing from his seat in a fluid motion and pacing back and forth. For all his time spent among humans he felt no closer to understanding them as any other yautja. He reached for and swiped his glaive from the wall, extending it and spinning it once before stopping and hesitating.

Her life was half over. And though he had taken precautions to make sure she would not have a preamature death, outside of dying in a hunt or honorable combat, he knew that ultimately he would outlive her.

Sighing, the tip of his glaive touching the ground. The medicines he gave her acted as steroids, this wasn't his intention but was an added side-effect of putting substances in her that were meant for his kind. He also regularily gave her what she needed to boost her immune systems, against illnesses that were alien to her. He dosed her against toxins that they would encounter that he could tolerate but she would not have. He...

He felt shame and guilt, doing so much, some things that would get him very much into trouble if he was found out about them, just so that he wouldn't lose Hannah too soon.

Maybe it was _he_ that was truly lonely.

Turning, he quietly retracted and put the glaive back in its place.

He looked up at his trophies, scanning slowly down the wall, where her trophies bled into his. He felt pride at her accomplishments, that she had come so far in such a short time. He knew she was never happy with herself, always thinking that she could do better, should be better than where she was. She failed to see her prowess as a hunter.

He remembered bitterly how she had belittled herself before Neijin-thei-de.

Silently he left the trophy room and circled around to the bedroom, pausing to look at Hannah as she slept. Her body temperature had lowered as was normal when she was asleep. This fact of biology had concerned him at first, and had initially worried him when they had landed on c'hot that she would easily freeze to death, but she had proven to be fine, and a better heat source than he. More than once he had needed her against his core to even sleep comfortably on that damned planet.

Now he could go back to letting her have her side of the bed, though he intended to still tease her occaisionally. Tonight though, he would not bother her, removing his kilt and approaching the bed.

Hannah stirred and she lifted her head looking over her shoulder as Jar-hidda slipped into the furs. She murmured something that was barely words and he clicked in affirmation to whatever it was. He could have agreed to letting her drive the ship; he didn't care. Until she smirked and turned back over to go back to bed. Now he cared. Freezing in place, he stared at her, really hoping he hadn't actually agreed to letting her pilot. He was fairly sure that wasn't it. But he wasn't certain what he had just agreed with, or to. With a shake of his head he finished laying down. It would be a matter for another time. Right now, he wanted to get his first good night's rest in a long time.

His thoughts had other ideas. He dreamed of Hannah, her body bent with age, face sunken, body cold. He had seen many venerable humans in his time on earth, and she looked especially aged. Still she stood tall with her bow in hand, staring out of the opening of his ship at the cold blackness outside. She looked back at him and grimaced in a way that was happy, sad and tired. Though no words were shared, he knew she was going on her Final Hunt.

"Goodbye Jolly."

Was all she said, and she walked out into the blackness and was gone.

He tried to follow but the darkness repelled him, the cold stinging at his hand, whispering that it was not his time.

A small pinpoint of heat appeared in the darkness, and he recognized it as Ciujim, the goddess of fate and deception. Was she there to lead Hannah away from the path? To destroy her before she could arrive at Cetanu's palace as so few females had done so far? Her inviting warmth tempted even him, and he became rooted to the spot, before fighting to try to enter the cold darkness. Hannah was in danger and he had to get to her she was no match for a goddess! With a roar he plunged into the biting cold.

He awakened suddenly to a warmth on his chest, looking up at Hannah looking down at him.

"Are you hurt?"

Jar-hidda heaved breath, looking at her then removing her hand from his chest and sitting up, touching where the spot was. It had not been the first unsettling dream he had of Hannah, there had been several where she had died, by the machinations of females, of that bad blood, by kainde amedha, even by his own hand.

"You roared in your sleep," she offered and he rattled looking at her.

So that was why her heart was racing, flushing her body and face with heat, twisted in the grimace he knew to be concern.

He didn't answer her, tapping a tusk methodically before looking away. He heard her sigh in defeat and the heat of her hand found his crest, applying pressure on it to push him back to the furs.

"Get sleep," she ordered with a harsh click, falling into the furs herself, "we're off that planet and we're not going back ever, alright?"

She assumed it was just a nightmare of Ch'ot, she wasn't too far off really and he chuckled.

"Promise?"

"Well, I mean," she sighed settling down, "you drive the ship so it's really up to you," she chuckled lazily, "so I _assume_ we're never going back again."

Jar-hidda rattled in amusement. Good, he hadn't agreed to let her pilot.

"Alright, _I_ promise we're never going back then."

Hannah made a humming noise, endorsing the idea which was possibly a lie, "go back to sleep Jolly, wake up when we're at the warm planet."

Jar-hidda rattled and watched as she drifted to sleep again beside him. He looked up at the ceiling above him before closing his eyes taking a heavy breath.

No, she wasn't the one who was lonely...


	9. Reprieve

It had taken much longer than a single night to get to the planet Jar-hidda had wanted, but Hannah was alright with that. Life back in the void had gone back to normal, upkeep in the ship, training, meditating, eating and repeating. Jar-hidda had assured life was much more entertaining on a vessel meant for a clan, but Hannah teased that she would pass on the chance to be in any kind of enclosed space with a bunch of lonely hot-blooded males.

Give her old men like Jar-hidda any day.

After breakfast she sat with Jar-hidda as they approached the planet: a blue and tan-colored rock planet, small, and according to Jar-hidda, devoid of any really threatening beasts.

Sounded like a real resort planet to her, and she was amused by the thought of Jar-hidda having this sort of 'secret garden' planet where he can go to not be the 'legendary' Jar-hidda for a while.

Fame had to be so tiring.

"How long are we going to be there for?"

"Long enough to get warm and stay warm for a _long_ while."

Hannah snickered, "let's not make it a whole year though."

"If it takes that long."

The ship cut neatly through the atmosphere, heading gently down to the surface. They passed over tall trees and fields of grass. They set down in one of these fields by a small pool of clear water, and Hannah looked up at Jar-hidda, cocking an eyebrow before standing from her seat. The screen said that the air was breathable, barely for her, something more tolerable for Jar-hidda, but nothing that was going to do damage to either of them.

She went to the side of the ship and opened it, looking out at the water, seeing it steaming on the surface.

"Ah," she declared in understanding, aclimating to the strange taste of the air and the shallow breaths she was suddenly taking. Gradually she moved down the ramp, taking in the sights but paying particular attention to the steam above the pool, "I was thinking this was too temperate to be considered a 'warm planet,' I see your secret now."

She moved over to the edge of the pool, hearing Jar-hidda come down the ramp after her. She did a quick scan of the area, noting that there was no apparent danger, then lightly bent,touching the back of her hand against the water.

Very hot. She moved her hand and rubbed the red spot away.

Possibly too hot for her to want to get in, she was less tolerant of heat than her yautja friend. But the place was beautiful, and she didn't mind relaxing on the beach while Jolly took a hot bath. She undid her kilt and sat down on it, returning Jar-hidda's gaze as he walked right into the water and purred in delight.

Hannah chuckled.

"So what's this planet called? Nuo'ethy?" she teased. If the planet they had just come from was called 'hell' this one had to be 'heaven' right?"

"No but I like that better," said her friend, thoroughly enjoying himself, sinking down to his shoulders and rattling in pleasure.

Hannah grinned, "bet you would choose this water over a females bed any day."

"Every day," he agreed and Hannah laughed.

The human woman turned and laid back on her kilt, looking up at the blue sky, closing her eyes and listening to the water.

"Very Earth-like, this place," she said softly.

Silence, save for the tell-tale sounds of water moving about, answered. Then after a moment her friend asked, "do you miss Earth?"

Hannah smirked, "not particularly."

"Even though it's your homeworld?"

"It was full of humans Jolly," she said, laughing, "I got along with them about as well as I get along with youngbloods."

Jar-hidda didn't chuckle in response, like she expected, and she opened her eyes and looked over at him. He was looking out over the grass, seemingly at the forest that was in the distance.

"Why, do you miss yours?"

"Not particularly," he responded, using her answer, "it was full of females," he turned to her then grinned, "I get along with them about as well as I do females."

Hannah smiled for a moment, then tilted her head, "what's on your mind Jolly? You've been very quiet and thoughtful lately."

Jar-hidda rattled low and looked away from her again, resting his back against the edge of the pool, almost laying in it. The long silence told her that she wasn't going to get an answer, which usually meant it was something he felt ashamed about; something emotional and therefore against the Path and un-yautjan, dishonorable and some-such.

She frowned, but didn't press the matter, laying back down on her kilt and humming.

"We've been out of the game for a while," she said, changing the subject for her friend, "we're going to have to go on some hunts to catch up to our seasons."

"What did you have in mind?"

Hannah hummed in thought, looking up at the blue sky again, at the dirty-looking clouds.

"Well, I could always go for another r'ka," she said, "bring my collection to an even number."

Jar-hidda clicked.

"What about you, what would you like to hunt?"

Jar-hidda rattled in thought before answering, "I haven't hunted humans in a long time."

Hannah scoffed, reaching for and throwing a clump of grass and dirt at him. Jar-hidda scoffed and quickly scooped the offending object out of his special pool of water and tossing it out.

"I'm not dead yet!" she yelled, grinning, "you can wait a little longer!"

"It's been so long," he complained, faking a whine.

"Don't make me come into that water and kick your ass!"

"Come into the water then," challenged the yautja, spreading his arms in welcome, grinning maliciously.

"No!" she protested quickly, all but falling back on her kilt, trying not to laugh, "I don't feel like boiling myself alive just to teach you a lesson."

Jar-hidda laughed, splashing some water at her, the droplets thankfully cooled by the time they hit her. She sat up and pulled up more grass, threatening to answer his assault of water with earth and he rattled in warning. She chuckled but set the grass back down.

"I haven't hunted an r'ka in a while either," he conceded, settling down in the water again and Hannah crossed her legs, looking at her friend, "it would be wise though to pay our dues to the Guan-mi clan first, before doing any hunting."

Hannah nodded, recalling the price of the freedom they were now enjoying. But before any of that they were going to rest here for a bit, at least until Jar-hidda got over the trauma of being on Ch'ot for so long.

However long that took.

Given the size of the planet, Hannah expected that night would be coming relatively quickly, she began making plans to start a fire, cook meat over something with smoke to give it flavor, it would be like camping out, something they hadn't really done on the frozen planet. It would be nice, as relaxing for her as it was for him, get the past year out of her system and be ready for the time ahead.

Her thoughts turned momentarily to the Guan-mi clan, it sounded familiar but she couldn't place it, she doubted it was a clan they had visited before since it was a visit they were requesting. It definitely wasn't Garv and Little Fighter's clan otherwise Jar-hidda would have refused to go. Hashi's clan maybe? She hadn't seen Hashi since he had fought Jar-hidda over her 'possession.' Ten years was enough time for him to have gotten over that mentality right? It would be nice to visit him again under less stressful circumstances.

She supposed that she would see soon who it was their mysterious benefactors were, for now, she laid back down on her kilt and felt content to just bask in the sun.

"Any idea who the Guan-mi are?" she felt compelled to ask, after a moment of silence. She turned her gaze to the large yautja who had taken back to relaxing against the edge. Her friend lifted his head and rattled low in thought.

"They were a clan that were formed out of the Yeyin-thei-de," he paused, "I believe their clan leader is Al'nagara, last I had heard, more than that I do not know. A small clan with little prestige. Nobody as far as anybody is concerned."

Hannah hummed in thought, "I supposed that would explain a desire for you to visit."

"Maybe."

"Hopefully they are aware I'm human, or that will come as quite a shock when we get there."

Jar-hidda rattled in amusement from where he is.

"By now I'm sure all know who you are. 'What' is not very important. A warrior is a warrior. The only important thing is if you're blooded or not."

Hannah frowned, "I think I can name a few who would disagree."

Jar-hidda didn't respond at first, before lifting his crest. Hannah could see the yellow of his eyes leveling onto her and she shrugged, "you're not blooded and nearly everyone respects you. People like Neijin-the-de, Little Fighter, even Hashi, they're blooded, and they had to work twice as hard for that respect."

Jar-hidda growled, shifted and laid his head back down on the beach of his hotpool. After a long while he rattled, "you are right, I take back what I said."

Hannah felt no smugness at the victory of this argument, she sighed and flipped over onto her front, looking at Jar-hidda fully, "it's part of why I like traveling with you Jolly. You're _not_ like that. You're..." she smirked and chuckled to herself, "weird. You're... very human."

Hannah saw Jar-hidda's eyes again and Hannah fluttered a hand to gesture at him as a whole before adding, "for a yautja, at least."

Jar-hidda let out a single hollow sound, followed by a rattle and his tusks spread in a grin, "I suppose that's what I find enjoyable about you as well."

Hannah laughed, "that I'm weird?"

Jar-hidda tilted his head, still grinning, "that you're very yautja, for a human."


	10. Reunion

"This will be the first time in a long time going to see a clan," Hannah mused, fixing on her armor as the ship auto-piloted its landing.

"Too soon," Jar-hidda rattled in response, garnering a grin from the human woman, though it was hidden behind her mask.

"It's just for today," Hannah assured, as if consoling a pouting child, "we go, present ourselves, thank them for their aid, then run like hell before anyone demands you breed with them."

Jar-hidda rattled, unamused, giving her a side-ways glance before fitting on his mask. He selected a small predator's skull from his wall, nothing flashy or extraordinary, and Hannah decided to follow suit, picking up the feline/canine hybrid creature's skull and holding it easily under one arm.

They were not here to impress.

They approached the side of the ship and Hannah took a deep steadying breath as the side opened up and the heat from within seemed to rush out. The ramp lowered and they were greeted by the typical sea of spears. While not as big as the ones they were used to, it was still more impressive than whatever Jar-hidda and Hannah could ever accomplish ceremonially.

The two of them walked down the ramp together, side-by-side as equals, heading past the saluting warriors towards the clan leader, a bored looking eldress, and a hu—.

A human! _Two_ humans! And towering above everyone else: a Hish! Hannah almost stopped at the sight of hi,, her steps stumbling before catching back up and keeping pace with Jar-hidda's steady, unfalttering gait. Had he seen him? A His-qu-ten... was that even legal? Shouldn't he be killed on sight? Confused searching eyes landed on and recognized Bhu'ja-zhu-ju'dha standing beside the clan leader, but the shock of seeing two unexpected and one pretty impossible thing, she was not as stunned to see that the old arbiter was present. Instead it gave her a sense of relief; an arbiter in the same presence as a Hish, with neither trying to kill the other, had to mean that the usually criminal yautja was somehow safe.

Or at least as safe as any yautja could be.

Bhu'ja-zhu-ju'da being there also explained why the clan name sounded familiar. This must be his clan; the one he was talking to her about many years ago. She was kind of nervous to see him again. She didn't remember their last talk being comfortable, and she didn't expect any discussions he was going to have with her after the ceremony would be any better.

Her distracted thoughts came to a crashing hault when Jar-hidda's trophy fell to the ground. He was suddenly having some kind of attack. He was frozen in his tracks, hands held aloft at his sides, mask fixed ahead. Hannah immediately forgot about the surrounding yautja, the humans, the Hish and the arbiter and began to panic, looking at her friend. All senses were alert, as if a trap was about to be sprung.

Her free hand reached for her weapon, looking to where Jar-hidda's attention was locked, then she stopped as well, rooted to her place.

Down the way, a female had separated herself from Bhu'ja-zhu-ju'dha's side and was now walking down the path. As she approached, Jar-hidda finally moved, lifting his hands to undo his mask and remove it, staring up at the female as she came to a stop, towering over him. Hannah was confused. He didn't have the same sort of guarded disgust that he usually had with females; there was no aprehension whatsoever as she came to stand before him. Hannah did not relax yet.

The female's hands moved to grab either side of Jar-hidda crest and did something Hannah had never seen a female yautja do to a male: she pressed her crest to his and purred.

"You've taken good care of father's ship."

It was then that the similarities of the male and female dawned on Hannah. The tall figure was basically a female version of Jar-hidda. She had more grey in her skin and tresses but she was the same shade of green, had the same mottled bruise-colored spots, and about as many scars.

Hannah watched Jar-hidda's eyes closed and he also caressed either side of the female's head, purring back.

Hannah was struck dumb.

Off to the side she heard Bhu'ja-zhu-ju'dha murmur to the clan leader who growled and turned to face the yautjan hoard, shortening the ceremonial speech to simply: "welcome honored Jar-hidda and esteemed Numyakuo'ide," and tapped his spear twice.

As the other warriors tapped thier spears in response, the arbiter approached Hannah swiftly and grabbed her by the arm before anyone even fell out of formation.

"Come Numyakuo'ide, I have not see you for some time and would like to catch up with you. And we should let my mate and her brother have some time alone."

 _Mei-jadhi-kolkio_.

Hannah could not help but be tugged by the old yautja. Even if she resisted she would have not had much choice just for the sheer power with which the arbiter was urgently pulling her away. He had put quite a bit of distance between them and the reunited siblings before Hannah snapped out of her daze and looked sharply to the arbiter.

"You knew!"

The arbiter stopped and rattled, looking down at her easily.

"You knew Jar-hidda's sister was alive!"

"Yes," the arbiter said, releasing her arm.

Hannah frowned, dropped her trophy, and smacked her hand against his arm. _Hard_.

The yautja flinched, likely not because it hurt but because the assault was sudden, and likely confusing, but Hannah was pissed. If someone had known that, _somehow_ , her mother had actually been alive this whole time and never told her until now, she would _kill_ that person. But that person at the moment was an arbiter. And she was on his home planet.

So she settled with hitting him hard enough that her hand went numb temporarily.

She glowered at him while she rubbed feeling back into her fingers and the old yautja rattled slowly.

"I was not in a position to reveal Daund'ka to her brother," he stated, Hannah growled in warning and he held his hand up, finishing, "she forbade me."

Hannah stopped growling. She stared at Bhu'ja-zhu-ju'dha.

"Inviting you here as repayment for the replacement part you needed was the way I devised to... get around her direct orders."

Hannah clicked, shifting her weight and backing away from the arbiter, folding her arms and sighing. The old yautja remained silent as she diliberated. After another sigh, Hannah looked up at him, then turned to look in the direction where they had left her friend behind.

"Well, so much for only being here a day."

Bhu'ja-zhu-ju'dha clicked in amusement and swiped his hand to his side, offering her to walk beside him, "I was not lying, however, when I said I wished to learn of your travels since our last parting."

Hannah hesitated, but unfolded her arms, bent to grab her trophy and stepped up to the arbiter's side, walking with him. She noticed now he was in a ceremonial cloak, different from the one she had seen him in back on Chul-yaun's atoll. Was it normal for arbiters to be present at such events?

"So, Neijin-thei-de informed me that you and Jar-hidda had been stranded on Ch'ot."

Hannah nodded, "it's a place neither of us want to visit again soon."

Bhu'ja-zhu-ju'dha laughed, "most only go there for their Final Hunt. It is the least hospitible planet we know of, that at least allows some life."

"So Jar-hidda told me."

The arbiter nodded, "I see, also, you have been on some succesful hunts before that, how many seasons are you now?"

"Nine," Hannah said, knowing it wasn't any kind of number to be proud of especially at her biological age.

"Very good."

Hannah wasn't ready for the compliment, and frowned deeply behind her mask.

She was still upset with the arbiter, but she had questions of her own, it felt only fair she get to ask them, too.

"You have humans here."

Bhu'ja-zhu-ju'dha turned his mask to look at her and she glanced at him, then looked around at the buildings they were now passing, "I saw two humans in your rank."

"Yes," the arbiter said with a slow nod, "they are members of our clan. You recall how I explained that we were a bit unorthodox and most are more than happy to let us be on our little planet, more or less giving us the sain'ja and females no one wants, but can't kill without dishonoring themselves?"

Hannah rattled, "I think last time you explained it in fewer words, but yes."

Bhu'ja-zhu-ju'dha nodded, "Thwei-Lar'ja came to us after she was picked up by Ba'garv. He had been sent to erradicate her and discovered she was a follower of the Path already. But his eldress forebade another human yautja among them. I had been at the time present to give my own report, and offered to take her into my clan. They were more than happy to allow this."

Garv. That made sense.

"And the male?"

Bhu'ja-zhu-ju'dha laughed, "our eldress fancied Med-kainde and brought him back with her after a hunt. Of all females that one cannot say 'no' too, Dekna-tuja is one you especially keep your peace with."

Hannah rattled, looking again around before stopping and turning to the arbiter, "what about the Hish?"

Bhu'ja-zhu-ju'dha stopped also and did not look immediately to Hannah as he rattled low, "he is a bit more difficult to explain," he admitted, looking, finally, at the human, "he is Hish-qu-ten, and by all right he should be dead, but he had saved the life of our clan leader, renounced his ties to his bad-blood clan, and was offered a place among us to follow the true Path. Many eldresses would see him dead still, for being as he is, modified unnaturally according to the Hish's tenets. Their ideal of what it means to be a 'perfect hunter.'"

Hannah frowned, recalling the skulls of the Hish that Jar-hidda had in his trophy room, the large rippling crests, unusually long mandibles.

"Setg'in is not a danger, on my honor."

Hannah frowned, tipping her head down, showing she trusted his word, at least.

"Jar-hidda's sister, two humans, a Hish, an eldress that hunts... what other surprises does your clan hold?"

Bhu'ja-zhu-ju'dha rattled in amusement, though Hannah was not being funny with her comment, then laughed.

"Walk with me a bit longer, Numyakuo'ide, and I will teach you the most surprising thing about us."

Hannah was sceptical that the old yautja held any pleasant surprises ahead, but she had asked the question. She gritted her teeth, then set her jaw, bracing against whatever lay in store, and reluctantly followed.


	11. The Trickster

Bhu'ja-zhu-ju'dha had taken Hannah away from the buildings and up a mountain. It was beautiful to say the least, lush with green life, covered in flowers. The path they walked was flanked by a stream, heading down towards the valley. Hannah had wished for a place to set her trophy, but carried it with her up the ways, until the arbiter motioned for her to stop.

She stood now before a pyamid, small in size, relative to what she had seen in pictures on earth. It was made of white stone, starting out as a large step pyramid before transitioning to smaller steps. Each corner was adorned with a rising square pilar, and had a gleaming metal cap at the top, glowing a bright white. Hannah could feel its heat from where she stood.

"Our temple."

Hannah frowned a bit and looked from the structure to the yautja who spoke in reverence. When the arbiter stepped forward, Hannah stayed behind, glancing from him, to the doors, and then back to him.

"Am I allowed?"

Bhu'ja-zhu-ju'dha stopped, looked from side to side before looking at her again, "why would you not be?"

The corner of Hannah's mouth twitched down, "I'm human, unblooded, and I don't exactly worship your goddesses."

The arbiter chuckled.

"You don't need to worship the goddesses to be guided by their hands."

Hannah's frown deepened and she was glad the mask was there to hide her displeasure.

"You're allowed within, just mind your manners."

Provided those inside minded theirs, that wouldn't be hard.

She stepped up to Bhu'ja-zhu-ju'dha who turned and led her past the opening. She looked up at the statues of two yautja kneeling with extended combisticks framing the doorway. Within was dark, warm despte being completely made of stone. Carvings depicting various scenes were lit by several braziers of fire.

She would have expected no less from yautja.

The carvings on the walls were motifs that Hannah had since come to recognize. Images of fighting yautja in mostly circular patterns with triangles everywhere in the designs. The stories written on the walls were ones of the goddesses, their combat against the corrupt male pantheon to come out on top, a diarchy with a lone male beneath them, divine, but no longer a god; an arbiter. Jar-hidda had told her all, if not most, of these tales.

The long gilded hallway led to an open chamber in the center. A large bowl of fire was at its very center, suspended from the cieling by three chains. Around this brazier were several sitting cushions, and the old arbiter indicated for her to sit. She frowned, then selected one and Bhu'ja-zhu-ju'dha sat beside her. He crossed his legs, placed his hands on his knees and squared his shoulders, as if he was about to go into meditation.

His eyes never fully closed, however, and he looked into the fire.

Hannah tilted her head, leaning over to see his face, before looking at the fire as well.

"You can remove your mask," he rumbled clicking humorously, "the air here is an odd mix, barely breathable to both yours and my species, but breathable, once you get used to it."

Hannah hesitated for a moment before reaching up and releasing the seal on her mask, removing it and setting it in her lap.

Bhu'ja-zhu-ju'dha grinned, "I find your human faces most fascinating," he rumbled, "no mandibles, tongues necessary for speech and eating, eyes that see so very differently from ours."

He rumbled again, amused, "you look there and what you see is fire. How you see it I can't even imagine, Med-kainde and Thwei-Lar'ja have tried countless times to explain, but it is impossible. Like trying to tell one who is blind what sight even is. Yet your vision is such that imagining what we see is possible, if at the same time, impossible to know. Only if someone where to see both ways could it ever fully be explained."

Hannah remained silent, looking again at the old arbiter, cocking an eyebrow at him. Her chest was tight and her breaths shallow, but the air was indeed breathable, and the yautja's manner of speaking intigued her to no end. Like speaking to a monk.

"Jar-hidda and I have discovered that, we can both see black, and black means basically the same to us."

Bhu'ja-zhu-ju'dha's eyes turned to Hannah, ever so slightly, and he clicked once

Hannah continued: "black, for yautja is the color of cold, of lifelessness, of the void. We see that too: black is empty, nothingness, the void."

The old yautja turned his head to her now, some of his tresses falling over his shoulder, "and what of the fire?"

Hannah frowned and looked at the flame, thinking for only a bit, before shaking her head, "it's... fire."

The old yautja rumbled, "but it's just that: fire. The way you see it, it is a thing, not tangible but as much of a thing seperate from its fuel, it's bowl, the chains, the walls, your body. It is a thing all on its own."

Hannah looked to Bhu'ja-zhu-ju'dha and tilted her head, but nodded slowly.

"For us, fire is everything. Fire exists wherever there is something to see. There is fire in the bowl, in the chains, in the walls and in you and in me. Fire is the uniting substance of the universe. It _is_ life."

Hannah frowned. Bhu'ja-zhu-ju'dha rumbled, amused, "that's why you see the word 'fire' in so many things. Fireblood, Fire Hunters, this clan here is even called Night Fire."

Hannah nodded once in understanding. Mostly. Fire was important because heat was everything the yautja knew as what made up 'existance.' Without heat, there was nothing. Heat and fire were the same thing to them.

"I'm a bit confused, Bhu'ja-zhu-ju'dha," Hannah said, interrupting the present discussion, "you're an arbiter, so you can't be in charge of this clan. But... you seem to lead it more than the leader."

The arbiter rumbled and nodded, "I can see how it seems that way. I do spend more time among my clan than most arbiters do. I was, in a way, responsible for its creation. But make no mistake, it is Al'nagara who leads."

"But you created it," Hannah interjected. The old yautja held his breath for a moment, then grinned, spreading his carved tusks wide.

"I... nudged it in that direction."

Hannah gave the yautja a side-ways glance and the arbiter chuckled.

"Let me tell you a story," he said, lifting his head again and staring into the fire, "when I was young, unblooded even, I was in mediation when a vision came to me. In it I was on my Path, water to either side of me, cold and black. It was narrow, but the ground was solid as I walked. It was not long before a heat caught my eye, and I spotted Ciujim poking her head out from the water.

"She was a bright blinding heat on the black surface, tantalizing and warm. She stepped up into the surface of the water and began to dance. As I watched she beckoned me to follow and then began to dance away."

Bhu'ja-zhu-ju'dha's face relaxed and his eyes slid closed, "I knew what it was that I was supposed to do: ignore her, stick to the path, walk towards the black shape in the distance that was Cetanu's temple, and keep my honor unblemished.

"But I looked back at her and she beckoned again. I was so compelled, and so I stepped off the path and into the water. I followed as she danced along the surface. The water was freezing, it stung my flesh and sent icy daggers all the way to my bones. It was painful, excruciatingly so, but still I followed.

"And then, she stopped, and where she stopped, I stepped up onto another path. When I looked down the way, Cetanu was still there."

Hannah kept silent and starred as the old yautja breathed in relief. He opened his eyes then looked at her. She widened her eyes and he clicked in amusement.

"Well after that I mated with Ciujim right there on that Path, and after that she slipped back into the water and I started walking the new Path towards Cetanu."

Hannah snorted and shook her head, "of course, young unblooded male."

Bhu'ja-zhu-ju'dhaclicked in amusement as well, and shook his tresses, "when I came out of my trance, and cleaned myself up, I went to a gkin gu's're h-de to ask for an interpretation to the vision, she consulted for a very long time, and told me later that the only conclusion she could come up with, was that it meant simply: 'there was more than one path of honor that leads to glory.'"

Hannah's grin faded and she stared hard at the old yautja.

"This was heretical of course and because of it I had put the gkin gu's're h-de in a bad position. It became our secret, but it was an omen I kept with me my entire life. The knowledge sat with me through my chiva, it stayed as I matured into a great hunter, by the time I became chief I had accepted it as truth, and when I became arbiter, I knew what neded to be done."

Bhu'ja-zhu-ju'dha looked into the fire with such resolve Hannah almost felt he was ready to fight, "I pegged Al'nagara for a prospective chief early in his life, and I personally saw to his training. When it was that we became good friends, I shared in my philosophy, and after a personal journey in questions, he also accepted it as truth. At my prodding, he fought for the right and became chief, but declared that he wanted his own clan rather than to take over our old one. It was known that he was ... odd, and that those who wished to follow him were also odd. Needless to say these were yautja the matriarchy was glad to be rid of, and we only had the obstical of an eldress who would sponser us and become our matriarch.

"I already knew who would be willing, and I sought the attention of one Dekna-tuja, daughter of Kv'varde of the Mi-kv'var-de clan," Hannah blinked. Garv's clan.

"It was relatively simple, I promised that we would be sent away to the furthest reaches of the void, on a planet no one would want to visit, that had barely breatheable air and it all meant the same to her: escaping the politics of the matriarchy. She sponsered us almost immediately," Bhu'ja-zhu-ju'dha clicked, "my final move as all this transpired was to secure for ourselves a gkin gu's're h-de, and after so many years I had returned to the one who had interpreted my vision, and I requested she come with us. That's her, that tends the fire now; Kantra."

Silence fell over the arbiter, his story done. Hannah looked to the priestess, dressed in flowing loose gowns and decorated in metal jewelry. Hearing her name, she looked to them, a distant almost sleepy gaze. She clicked once in formal greeting, before returning to feeding the flame.

Hannah frowned and looked at the ground, thinking heavily on his words before looking to him again, "that explains a lot," she admitted, "but... what does that have to do with your interest in me?"

The arbiter gleamed, seemingly pleased that she had noticed this and he answered with a grin, "you are putting Jar-hidda on a very interesting Path indeed."


	12. Worlds Apart

"What an interesting life you've led, brother," rattled the female, no longer Naxa, as he knew her. Daund'ka had gone on a chiva, and the Guan-mi clan marking was clearly visible on her chest. She had chosen a name for herself, gained honor in place of having no children.

In the grand scheme of things, that meant little to Jar-hidda compared to the simple truth that she was alive.

She had taken him to her home, as lavish as any other female's dwelling save that it had a trophy wall, an impressive one at that; the head of a kainde amedha baiun was its centerpiece.

They sat now at the edge of her private hotpool, and the weight of so many years lost between them was heavy on his shoulders; she was even physically older than he was. The toll of him traveling through the void for so long.

"You've heard it all, then," he rumbled somberly.

"Other than your most recent endeavor on Ch'ot? Then I've heard all that you've told to others."

Jar-hidda couldn't help but bristle a moment, before forcing himself to let his tension seep out of his muscles. It would do no good after all this time to get mad at his sister now.

"Why did you not contact me?"

The female looked away from him for the first time since he had arrived, reaching down and running her fingers through the heated water.

"What would you have done if I had?"

"I would have come here."

"You would have stayed here."

"If this clan would have me, yes."

His sister shook her head, tossing her tresses about and looked at him, "by the time I became a part of this clan, brother, you had already made a name for yourself. Had you come here, you would still have been hunted, you would have been at the mercy of the arbiters, and you would have been killed for it. It was better for you to keep moving. You found redemption that way."

Jar-hidda bristled again, turning heated eyes to his sister, "I didn't want _redemption_ mei-jadhi."

His sister snapped her tusks and he silenced, letting the tension out again.

"Regardless, you found it, became free to wander, and became legendary."

"Why not contact me then?"

Daund'ka rattled again, removing her hand from the pool and watching the water fall from her fingers, rapidly cooling, "call it my guilt, I suppose. I didn't know how to face you, being the reason for your wanderings..."

"I am my own reason for wandering, Naxa."

His sister looked at him sharply, and he turned his gaze to the hot pool. She clicked in amusement.

"I guess I can let you call me that," she said finally, moving her legs and slipping into the water.

"I like it better than 'Bitter Heart,' mei-jadhi."

His sister laughed and sank down into the water, turning her head towards Jar-hidda, "well, I like Piure better than 'Heat Bloom.'"

Jar-hidda chuckled softly. A sweet fruit and the rough branch it grew on. Their dam had a sense of humor, and probably did not realize just how inseparable they would be. Indeed, when it was they had been separated, Jar-hidda had thought her dead, like a fruit taken from the branch, and he had been barren for her loss.

"Naxa...," he rumbled and his sister opened her eyes to look at him again. He was silent for a moment, then lifted his head to her, "how did you survive?"

Daund'ka rattled, shifting again to sit on the edge of the pool, folding her legs up and out of the water.

"I went into that forest to die as a male since I had failed in my duty as a female," Jar-hidda nodded, remembering watching her vanish into the jungle, "every creature I came across I instigated, I fought, sometimes sustaining grievous injury, but I always won, and I failed to die."

She rattled, running a claw along a scar on her arm.

"I don't remember how much time had passed, but I was in pursuit of a beast that had fled from our battle. I was injured and bleeding heavily, but I was intent to complete the hunt or die trying. The beast, in its panic, fled beyond the edge of the jungle. Where I exited, there was a village, the small village to the south of ours, you may remember."

Jar-hidda was still for a moment, before nodding silently. There was not much of that place he wanted to remember.

"I had interrupted negotiation between our clan and the Guan-mi. I had not seen another yautja in a very long time. I was weak, and... terrified. If they killed me, it would be an honorless death. There was an arbiter even, right there with the eldress. I collapsed, but the arbiter caught me and was ready to take me to get healing, but the matriarch informed him I was marked for death, and ordered him to slay me on the spot.

"His eldress, though, took a liking to me for the many trophies I had hanging off my belt. She asked why it was I was condemned and...," Daund'ka paused, rattling angrily, "my disability was revealed as my crime."

Jar-hidda bristled, closing his eyes and tightening his fists.

"Dekna-tuja thought it was a stupid reason and asked for a trial by combat. My life would be hers if she won, theirs if they did. We all went to our old village, to the eldress who had condemned me. She chose a champion for the combat, Dekna-tuja chose herself as champion."

Daund'ka laughed, "you can guess how that turned out. I was taken onto their atoll and they were forbidden to return to that planet. That was fine for all involved. They brought me here, healed me and confirmed that I was barren. They cared little, Dekna-tuja bid me to keep hunting and earn honor. The arbiter trained me formally and prepared me for a chiva."

His sister nodded, then looked to Jar-hidda, "and that is how you've come to find me here, now, no doubt the scheming handiwork of my most chosen mate."

Jar-hidda grinned a bit, before laughing. All the time lost, even talking to his sister felt like there were rivers between them.

Daund'ka rattled, seeing his unease it seemed and leveled her eyes on him, "I heard so much about you from Bhu'ja-zhu-ju'dha, how you hunted, earned honor and a name for yourself, unblooded and clanless. How you hunted the largest ever r'ka, a feat still not yet met by any other, all but wiped out that clan of pyode amedha that hunted us, sparing only the pregnant female. How you saved an arbiter's life from the Hish-qu-ten and were pardoned of your crimes for it. How you came back from Jh'uda-tjauke with a pyode amedha of your own."

Jar-hidda rattled slowly, seeing his sister's curiosity and turning his gaze to the water. He felt guilt coming over him again.

"She's not... 'mine'," he said carefully, "she never was."

"What is she then?" Daund'ka asked, shifting to sit closer to her brother.

"My friend, the closest one I've ever had. You notwithstanding."

"We were born together, it doesn't count," Daund'ka said, humored.

Jar-hidda chuckled reaching and touching the hot water with his fingertips, "she deserved honor that Jh'uda-tjauke could not provide her. I took her with me, taught her the Path, which she's promptly rejected. Females have tried time and time again to kill her, males as well. She's earned her place, just as I have, even if it was not the way I had intended."

Jar-hidda rattled in uncertainty and removed his fingers from the warm inviting water.

His sister studied him, he could see the scrutiny out the corner of his eye.

"What's the matter then?" she asked bluntly and Jar-hidda clicked in amusement.

"She's human, for one," he said, looking to Daund'ka, "she's refused to hunt any thinking creature like her. I've refused to let her go on a chiva—."

"Why?" Daund'ka snapped and Jar-hidda flinched. He could hear the shock and anger in her voice and he looked away from her again, falling silent.

"Because she's human?" his sister asked, continuing her stern interrogation.

"No—."

"Because she's female?"

"N—."

Daund'ka grabbed his tresses suddenly, yanking his head so that he was looking at her. His hand was on her wrist immediately, rattling in warning. She didn't heed.

"Why not give her that honor then?"

Jar-hidda roared, removing his sister's hand forcefully from him, standing to his feet immediately and backing away from her before turning, pausing in his step to leave. His fists tightening and his shoulders arching. Slowly his shoulders lowered and his fingers uncurled, staring ahead. He couldn't leave his sister, not like this, not after so long of thinking she was dead, not because of one disagreement between them.

"Hannah wouldn't survive," he finally answered, not turning to face his sister.

"You don't know that," the voice struck against his back.

He rattled in shame.

"... I don't want to risk it..."

Silence answered, then the tired voice of a female asked, "is that really your choice to make for her?"

He stayed poised for a moment, ready to walk away, or to turn heel and remain. He had never thought he would ever see his sister again. This was definitely not how he would have wanted their reunion to have gone. But too much time had passed, too much had happened to the both of them. They were more strangers than siblings.

It would take much longer than a day to bridge the difference between them.

The tightness of his shoulders eased, and he stepped forward.

"You're leaving?"

Jar-hidda stopped part-way through his sister's hall, despite himself, clenching his fists, shame filling him, he could almost feel her behind him, glowering, "you have your life, here, on this planet mei-jadhi. I have mine... in the void."

"With the one you try to control."

"I can't explain to you in a way that you will understand," Jar-hidda clicked, keeping his voice even.

Silence answered. Jar-hidda just wanted to go, to leave the dwelling of his sister behind. She had a new life here, he was ready to get on with his own.

"Or is it that you cannot explain it to yourself?"

Jar-hidda rattled low, closing his eyes, before opening them, glancing to his side, where the wall of trophies were staring at a small number in particular, bunched together.

A hand touched his shoulder gently, an apologetic rattle reverberating from behind him, "I'll see you off, mei-jadhi. You and your human."


	13. Semisweet

She had amassed a bit of a crowd. Unintentionally. She had left the temple with Bhu'ja-zhu-ju'dha who inquired about her bow, a welcome distraction from the conversation they were having. He had recalled her explaining to him what it was and how it worked, and wanted a demonstration.

The bow she had, the combistick hybrid Jar-hidda had commissioned for her, had taken a little to get used to. It was an extremely high poundage to pull back, necessary for it to keep its integrity as a melee weapon, and only stored four arrows in its body. She had made more to carry with it in a quiver if she felt like hunting with it specifically, but the four little slivers were a good 'just in case.'

At present they were all she had with her, so she found herself going forward and retrieving them as they veered to the side, hit the ground or trees around the makeshift target she had carved.

It wasn't her that was missing; after showing the arbiter how it was done, he asked to try. As others saw the weapon in use, or rather Bhu'ja-zhu-ju'dha struggling to use it, they also came up to try.

She smirked every time it was said 'shouldn't take much skill,' before the yautja in question failed miserably to hit the target. Every now and then one insisted it was a trick and Hannah had to take the bow to prove it was not.

Now she was handing the bow to another, after a small demonstration that the target, indeed, could be hit. He rattled in excitement, a youngblood who was going to show off to the others. He pulled back the bow and Hannah folded her arms, under no obligation to correct his stance, nor worried he would injure himself given that yautja gauntlets had the wonderful previously undiscovered double use as wristguards. He fired a shot and it went wide, and Hannah smirked, going to retrieve the four arrows as the youngblood cursed.

"Alright, alright, _my_ turn," came a surprisingly smooth voice and Hannah saw her bow being passed to the human male she had seen at the ceremony.

He was _huge_. No longer standing by the eldress Hannah could see that he was nearly as tall as the average yautja all his own, and muscular to boot, rather than twig skinny like she was used to with tall humans. He flashed a warm and gentle smile, with determination in his eyes as he held out his hand for the arrows. Hannah handed him one of them and he chuckled, giving her a wink.

Bhu'ja-zhu-ju'dha had said he had come from earth. It showed in his mannerisms. She was almost curious.

"Alright let's try this," he said, lifting the bow, incorrectly, drawing back the arrow, and letting it fly. He laughed at himself as it sailed clean past the tree and shook his head.

"Can I try again?"

Hannah tilted her head at the gleeful grin and excited stare she was being given, before handing him another arrow. He bounced in excitement, notching the thing and pulling back again, missing once again. He laughed, then winced and flinched away, still laughing as the bow was snatched out of his hand.

"Alright Thwei-Lar'ja you can have a turn."

Hannah looked over at the dark-skinned woman who swatted the man away. He moved to stand next to Hannah, as she stared at the scar-covered woman. The woman stared back out of black eyes, holding a pale-palmed hand out for an arrow. Hannah handed one over in a daze; she recognized her. Not her specifically, but her features. The elongated head, the filed teeth.

Thwei-Lar'ja took the arrow silently and turned, notched the arrow and drew back flawlessly. Hannah's eyes widened in surprise as the woman let out a breath, then released, hitting the target nearly dead center.

The yautja woman then looked at the bow then to the others, "you're not being cheated," she hissed, looking at some of the youngbloods of the crowd as she thrust the weapon back into Hannah's hands.

Hannah took it, holding onto the one arrow left and kept staring, earning a glare from the woman.

" _Kure Iradandaanya_ ," she said with some difficulty.

Thwei-Lar'ja's jaw set and her brow furrowed, turning to face Hannah, who had the instinct the woman was about to fight her.

"You know my tribe?" she asked simply, and Hannah pointed in a direction vaguely in the way of the Kut'kuni, where several skulls matching Thwei-Lar'ja's were.

"I travel with Jar-hidda."

The woman tilted her head sharply. The name obviously meant nothing to her, which surprised Hannah. She was about to try to explain when she was interrupted.

"You're _American_ ," the man suddenly spoke up and Hannah looked at him, lighter-skinned than her, blond, blue eyed. He smiled warmly, "I can hear it in your voice," he extended a hand to her, "my human name's Neil, my blooded name is Kainde-med. It's nice to finally meet you."

Definitely also American.

"Hannah," she responded cautiously, shaking his hand, eyeing him suspiciously.

"This is Diwizama-."

"I can introduce myself."

"-Who can introduce herself," Neil chuckled.

"My name is Thwei-Lar'ja," she corrected the man, looking at him sharply as he lifted his hands in defeat and moved away as the woman stepped right up to Hannah, who was unused to looking down at someone.

"Who is Jar-hidda?"

"Allow me to interject," Bhu'ja-zhu-ju'dha rattled, standing up from where he had been sitting quietly observing. Other yautja were dispersing now, seeing that the 'game' was over. The only one who seemed intent on staying was the Hish, watching from where he was sitting quietly. Hannah gave him a skeptical look. His eyes unnerved her.

"Jar-hidda is a technically blooded but clanless yautja, one of our most legendary warriors," the arbiter explained. Hannah backed away from the three sain'ja respectfully before turning to gather her arrows. Startled slightly when Neil jogged over to help.

"Because of his status he's easy to send on missions that most others don't want to go on, at the behest of the eldresses, in order to remain free. One of these missions was the annihilation of your tribe, which he very nearly succeeded at, as you know."

Hannah barely heard footsteps but was already ready, bow reverted to a combistick in her hand as Thwei-Lar'ja bore down on her, eyes wild. The woman gripped Hannah's shoulders but she deflected them away from her and backed away, combi-stick crossed in front of her, ready to fight.

"Your Jar-hidda," the woman spoke quickly, "his mask and armor are red like rust, correct?"

"Yes," Hannah answered quickly, confused, still ready to fight, glancing at Bhu'ja-zhu-ju'dha.

" _Kpakpusezama_ ," that was... an impressive amount of odd sounds, "where is he!?"

Hannah frowned, reluctant to tell as she began pricing things together. It was probably a better idea had she not mentioned Jar-hidda at all.

"Thwei-Lar'ja, calm your fire," Bhu'ja-zhu-ju'dha rattled

"Seeking vengeance is against the path," Hannah saw fit to remind and the woman seethed.

"You know nothing of what I seek."

Hannah tensed, this time ready to fight to defend her friend if need be. When the woman's eyes widened suddenly, and her muscles eased.

Hannah looked at her confused, before looking back over her shoulder and seeing Jar-hidda approach, slowly, cautiously, likely because of everyone staring at him. His sister was with him.

Hannah flinched when Thwei-Lar'ja slipped past her silently and approached Jar-hidda, who stopped in his tracks at seeing her, then rattled as the woman knelt.

Hannah was officially all levels of confused.

"Honored Jar-hidda," Thwei-Lar'ja said with the level of reverence one would to a god. Jar-hidda clicked for her to stand and she obeyed, squaring her shoulders and looking up into the yautja's face.

"I am Thwei-lar'ja," she said simply, proudly, then put a fist to her chest and bowed her head, "you honored my father with a good death. I thank you."

Jar-hidda rattled slow. Hannah stared wide eyed between them. She remembered him telling her about that hunt, where the man he was hunting had all but sliced him clean open. It was the scar of that wound that Thwei-Lar'ja reached for but didn't touch, almost with the same respect given to trophies.

"You're the last of your tribe?" Jar-hidda asked, and the woman retracted her hand.

"I am."

Jar-hidda's eyes flashed to Hannah, before looking down at Thwei-Lar'ja again, "your people taught me something very important, Thwei-Lar'ja, and your father fought with honor," he inclined his head to her, "I'm... sorry that you are the last."

"It was inevitable," Thwei-Lar'ja replied with conviction, "destiny. We were never meant to succeed against the gods."

Jar-hidda rattled, sounding very tired, something the sain'ja picked up on, staring up at him. His hand engulfed her shoulder in a show of respect, before releasing it and looking to Hannah.

"Are you ready to leave?"

The named human of all present looked around in shock, like she was surprised to be addressed. After all that, she had felt a bit invisible. She was also surprised that he wanted to leave so soon. Hannah looked past him to his sister, who seemed, distant from him now than she had at the ceremony.

"I am if you are," she said quietly. She looked down at a tap on her hand and saw two arrows. She looked at Neil, who smiled at her as she took them from him. She had forgotten he was there, he was so quiet.

She took the arrows and slipped them into the combistick, hearing Jar-hidda rattle, "I must go Thwei-Lar'ja."

"I understand, honored Jar-hidda."

Hannah retraced the combistick, and looked at Jar-hidda as he came near to her, nodded, and then walked past. Hannah gave a quickly look-around at those present, before bowing her head in farewell with a quick fist to her chest, backing away before jogging after her friend.

Just like that, they were leaving.

Hannah was surprised that they hadn't stayed longer, or even if Jar-hidda had decided that they would never leave. But they were on his ship, leaving the planet, and his sister, behind.

The planet quickly faded from view and Hannah turned to look at her friend, concerned for him.

She wondered if he had left for her sake. In honesty she had been uncomfortable there; Bhu'ja-zhu-ju'dha felt dangerous, not like other yautja, like he knew something he wasn't supposed to, something he could use to give her and Jar-hidda a fate worse than death. The human sain'ja were odd, even Kainde-med who was the most human. And the Hish unnerved her. But if her friend had decided they would stay indefinitely, she would have sucked it up and gotten used to it.

"Jolly?"

Jar-hidda paused in tapping instructions to the computer, before looking down at Hannah. He looked exhausted.

"Are you alright?"

The yautja rattled a moment before turning and finishing his sequence of commands, then standing.

"I...," he hesitated, "I need to meditate."

Hannah sighed and stood as well, watching him leave for the trophy room as she leaned against his chair. She couldn't imagine the turmoil he was in, especially if what she assumed was correct: after all this time thinking his sister was dead, and then finding her, he and her no longer felt like siblings.

How would she feel if she had seen her mother after so long and couldn't find that same connection to her?

Hannah shook her head at herself. She had to stop comparing Jar-hidda's situation to her own hypothetical ones.

She stepped away from the chair and moved to the training room, leaning against the open doorway and looking at her friend, sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed. His heart and mind weren't in it, she could see by the flickering of his eyes behind his eyelids. She stepped inside, moving over to her friend and sitting down behind him, leaning her back against his.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" she asked looking at the only blank space on the wall.

Jar-hidda rumbled deep in his chest, she felt it through her back.

"Not distracting me would be a good start," he gruffed. Hannah smiled, lifting her arm and touching his neck just below his rings.

"Distracted yet?" she asked and he jolted away from her and onto his feet, causing her to fall flat on the floor as she laughed.

Jar-hidda tossed his tresses about and adjusted his neck ornaments, glaring at her pointedly. She grinned back up at him, but her smile slowly faded.

"You've been... really quiet lately," she started and he froze, staring at her.

"At first I thought it was just Ch'ot, but I don't think so anymore," she sighed, rolling herself onto her stomach so that she could push herself up into a sitting position, "do you want to talk about it?"

"Hannah..."

She nodded.

He grinned, "you're still so human."

Hannah spat out a laugh, grinning and standing to her feet. She shook her head as she approached her friend.

"Fine, want to fight instead?"

"No."

"Eat?"

"No."

"Sleep then?"

"No."

Hannah sighed and tossed her hands, "well, Jolly, there's no females here for you to mate with, so you're all out of yautja solutions to your problem."

Jar-hidda rattled, slowly lifting his gaze to the ceiling and closing his eyes. God she hated seeing him suffer like this, and she bit her lip in thought.

"How about a hunt?" she offered and he looked at her, "you said you could go for a r'ka, we fulfilled our obligations to the Guan-mi clan. Let's go hunt r'ka, somewhere intolerably warm."

The yautja stared at her for a while before making an amused sound and bending down to touch his crest to her brow. She closed her eyes, resting her hands on the side of his crest, feeling the heat from his skin. This was an affectionate gesture, perhaps the highest expression of affection the yautja had, this meant something different between them than it did between Jar-hidda and his twin, though.

"A hunt sounds good right now," he admitted, lifting away from her, slipping out of her fingers.

"Alright," she conceded, "but first, some eating, some training, some meditating maybe," she tried to tease. He nodded and silently made his way to the kitchen. She could see his heart wasn't in it., and as she watched his greying tresses vanish from around the door, she frowned.

He looked so old suddenly.


	14. Nightmares

Hannah had gone to sleep after he finally agreed to go on a hunt, as well as after eating some meet, sparring, and failing to meditate. She thought he needed a distraction. She was worried for him, he could see that clearly. And she wanted to know why, but how could he tell her? That the reason was because he kept thinking about how she was going to die? That he was watching her body deteriorate seemingly before his eyes and knew that in no time at all she would be gone? That once more he would lose a friend and be left alone?

Finding his sister among the Guan-mi had been no sort of consolidation. They were still yautja, still hunters, still followed the Path, a path he was so dangerously close to abandoning.

He paced in the training room, unable to meditate, unable even to sit still. The room seemed so unbearably small walking from one wall, turning and walking to another; his pace brisk, his muscles tight, his fingers flexing and curling into tight fists. His mind went back to his dream, of an old woman standing at the brink of darkness, smiling as she went to have her final hunt, and his dreams before them, of her smiling at him as he killed her.

He felt a painful hollow in his stomach at sight of his wristblades or glaive slipping into her flesh, her small hands resting on his arms or shoulder, or touching his face as blood poured from her mouth. Was that how it would end? He had thought once long ago that if worse came to worse he would be her final hunt, that she would adorn his wall as a trophy, another reminder.

He stopped.

He looked over his shoulder at the trophies behind him. Rattling, he turned, walking to the wall slowly. He stared at them, his human trophies. He lifted a hand to one, stroking its smooth surface. _Butch_ is what Hannah called him, though she admitted she didn't know his real name. Beside him was _Guy_ , the one who had shot Hannah in the stomach.

He slipped the skull off its mount and looked at it, into the hollow of its eyes, then back at the wall. Other humans he had hunted sat around them, above those were the members of the _Kure Iradandaanya_ , their chief Biraragowe above them.

The female human yautja from the Guan-mi clan came to his mind. The last of her tribe, the yautja hunters. She was not old enough to be the woman he had spared, so she must have been the unborn child he had spared her for. She had thanked him for giving her sire an honorable death.

Something Hannah had wanted for her dam long ago.

Beside Biraragowe, John's skull, William's skull, Adam's skull, Tariq's skull, above all of them, in the center of the wall, Hidemitsu, his 'ototo.'

The emptiness in his stomach twisted as he reached out to touch the skull, claws glancing against the surface. That was right, he would put Hannah's skull next to his if he killed her. Another friend who he would be their final hunt. His claws slipped away from the samurai's skull, looking down at 'Guy' in his hand. His tusks clicked together, he felt heat rise from his chest to his eyes, the air felt solid as he tried to breathe. He couldn't. The thought of cleaning Hannah's skull. The thought of putting it on his wall. He didn't want it.

He didn't want it!

"NO!"

A roar tore through his chest, feeling like it split him apart as he smashed the skull against the wall. His body all but fell onto the trophy wall in front of him, tearing off Butch's skull and flinging it against the wall opposite him, roaring. His fists beat other skulls off their mounts, toppling them to the ground. He tore at them. Threw them. Humans whose names he knew, whose lives he took. Any of them could have been Hannah. If not on his wall on someone else's.

Panting for breath he ripped Hidemitsu's skull from the wall, whirling from the force of wrenching it free. He slipped on bone fragments, tumbled to his knees and elbows. He roared, pushing himself up, lifting the skull above his head. His eyes bored holes into the ground. He moved to smash the skull into the ground.

It was suddenly snatched from him.

Breath hit him in his chest and he snapped his gaze to Hannah, hugging the skull to her chest. Her wide eyes stared into his.

His chest heaved, his mandibles, spread wide, slowly closed over his mouth and he closed his eyes, rumbling as he shifted to his knees, looking away from the human.

He heard the sound of bone touching metal and felt Hannah's hands on his shoulders, asking frantically "Jar-hidda? What's happening? What's wrong?"

He rumbled again, his breathing finally slowing, but he didn't open his eyes. He felt her hand on his crest, she was trying to read his emotions in the way she knew how.

"Tell me what's wrong Jar-hidda," she pleaded quietly when her searching provided no answers. Rattling slowly he leaned forward and just rested his crest against her forehead. She didn't move away from him, but made a worried, uncertain noise.

Slowly, her hand slipped from the sides of his head to around his neck, something that should terrify him, but he trusted Hannah. The warmth of her cheek slid to his.

"I wish I could help you Jolly."

He was still for a long while. Just breathing. Fighting with himself and the heavy stone in his stomach. He couldn't explain to her what he was feeling. He didn't have words for it. There was pain from memories that hadn't hurt, shouldn't hurt, there was guilt where there should be pride, there was fear where there should be none.

At a loss, he moved his arms up and returned the gesture she was giving, wrapping her in his arms tightly, almost engulfing her. His tresses falling over her shoulder as he pressed against her. With great shame, he felt himself quiver and sounds of mourning resounded through his chest and his throat.

Like she was already dead and gone.

"Jolly...," she whispered after a moment, after his moaning had silenced. She leaned back, his tresses sliding from her shoulder. His eyes remained tightly closed as he loosened his arms. If she wanted to leave he'd let her. He wouldn't blame her, listening to a yautja weep so shamelessly. Had she been yautja, she would have reprimanded him for his weakness.

She did not, though, nor did she leave. She stood in front of him, and the heat of her hands moved to his shoulders, pressing against them and kneading them. His arms moved so that his hands alone rested on her back, and he forced his eyes to open, looking at her. She was barely taller than he in their position.

The grimace of her face told him of her concern for him, and he looked down, away from her, in disgrace. He heard her breathe heavily, then felt heat and the softness of her lips on his crest. His breath caught in his chest and he froze, feeling her lips again in a spot barely down from the last one. Again and again she pressed her lips to his crest, until she reached his brow, just above his spines.

He lifted his head, meeting her eyes with his. Hers were bright spots of heat, brighter than any other feature of her face. He heaved a breath, suddenly remembering how to do so. He felt her hands slid from his shoulders, moving again to his neck, her fingers resting on the rings around his neck, a thumb brushing against the bottom of his mandible.

She had kissed him. It was a human gesture but he knew what it meant.

Affection.

 _You're ugly_.

Those were her words, but she wasn't looking at him with disgust.

His throat tightened as he began to form the first syllable of her name, then lost heart. What could he say to her? Explain what he was thinking? Or feeling? After everything he had taught her, after all his times reprimanding her for her behaviors for her emotions, for being against the Path, he was going to admit to his moment of weakness? That would be hypocrisy.

 _You don't know how to take care of a creature who feels._

Hashi's words came to him again, staring into her eyes.

"Come on Jolly," she whispered, stepping back her hands moving from his neck to his hands, pulling on him encouragingly, "you need to rest."

Rattling hesitantly, he slowly got to his feet, and she led him by a single hand out of the room, before her other hand slipped away from him.

It felt as if all his energy stayed behind with his trophies. He watched Hannah's back, occasionally looking at her face as she looked over her shoulder to check on him. He couldn't respond, not even to rattle encouragingly, to even lie and show that he was well.

Hannah led him to their room, to the bed and stood to the side to allow him into bed first. He looked to her to be sure, and she nodded.

He felt heavy as he crawled into the bed, giving Hannah enough room to lay behind him. He stayed on his side, his back to her, he couldn't face her. He closed his eyes tightly, begging for sleep to take him soon. He felt Hannah's hand on his back, rubbing gently in circles, soothing the tightness in his muscles.

Slowly, the heaviness in his body lifted, his muscles eased, his breathing leveled out. He still couldn't face her, but exhaustion finally settled in, and the blackness of sleep took him.

The best he could hope for was a dreamless night.


	15. Morning Musings

Hannah was now one-hundred percent convinced Jar-hidda was going through some kind of yautja mid-life crisis, compounded with the year-long torture on Ch'ot and the discovery that his twin sister was alive. This was all playing out like some kind of soap opera, and Hannah had resolved that the next time she saw Bhu'ja-zhu-ju'dha, she was going to fight him. She would likely not win, but she was going to make him hurt.

While Jar-hidda slept, Hannah had spent the morning meticulously putting the skulls he had smashed back together. She couldn't understand what it was that had gotten into him; to destroy the thing that was supposed to be most precious to him, the only thing he was really allowed to _care_ about. Only a few skulls escaped his wrath, the samurai's which she had saved, a couple of the elongated, pointed teeth skulls and the cowboy's. Guy's, Butch's, the knight's, the moor's, others whose stories she didn't know, they had been a huge puzzle to solve whose bone bits belonged to who, especially Guy's.

It was disrespectful to touch another's trophies without permission, but Hannah couldn't get the thought of Jar-hidda out of her mind, holding her tightly, making a howling sort of noise that reverberated through her chest.

She could only equate it to crying, but she didn't want to assume; that had gotten her into much trouble previously. But she had a sneaking, terrible feeling she was right this time, and she didn't like the thought of her friend wailing in agony.

Either way, she figured it would be better if she was the one taking care of the trophies than him. He might just... break them more. And it would be very difficult to put them back together if they were pounded into dust.

With a sigh, she set down one of the pointed teeth skulls down to dry, thinking briefly back to Thwei-lar'ja, but quickly dismissing the thoughts as unpleasant and not worth dwelling on. She was nearly complete; the other skulls hadn't been nearly as broken as Guy's, which was something of a blessing, and she was surrounded in a semi-circle of human skulls, the empty sockets all looking at her. They no longer disturbed her as they used to.

"What did you all do to him last night?" she asked, picking up one of the unknown's, a quote from Shakespeare coming to her mind. She smirked, but shook her head and moved to repair 'Yorick's' cheekbones. Her smile faded slowly again, her mind going back to the previous night and the sound Jar-hidda made.

It was haunting.

Once all the skulls were repaired and left to dry on their mounts, she left the training room to check on Jar-hidda.

Still asleep, his back to her. He would have reprimanded her for sleeping this long, and it would have been easy to get revenge for all those times now. But she was not so petty. She frowned in concern for her friend, shutting the door and decided to wake him up with some breakfast instead. He would likely, ultimately, not appreciate being catered to and coddled like this, it being against the 'path' or something, but she knew a little about emotional trauma, even if he didn't want to admit to the emotion or the trauma.

With no family to care and foster home after foster home, she would have liked a friend to lean on in her difficult time.

Then again, if she had, say, John around for her when she needed, she wouldn't have been the bitter middle-aged woman alone on the mountain, Jar-hidda would be dead, and none of this adventure, if it could be called that, would have been.

She didn't dwell on the thought of where everyone would have been at the point in time with that hypothetical, and instead began preparing a sort of stew with spices; something to cheer Jar-hidda up maybe.

She could hear him now: "don't make my food, you're not an eta."

"Yeah well, stop beating yourself up over something you don't want to talk about, and maybe I won't have to take care of you," she smiled, shaking her head at herself, instead stirring the stew so that it didn't burn. She hummed to herself as she worked, a song from Earth whose words she had long forgotten, but it filled the silence as she filled two bowls.

She headed to the room only to find that Jar-hidda was no longer within. Given she had just come from the kitchen, that meant there were only four other places he could be. The med bay wasn't likely, he wasn't injured. The engine room was just as likely, as the ship was running fine, seemingly. So that meant either the cockpit or the trophy room.

She opted to investigate the trophy room first, as the more likely of the two options, and sure enough, the green and bruise-colored alien was within, kneeling in front of the wall where his trophies were drying. Hannah sighed and stepped in.

"You fixed them."

"You can beat me up for touching them later," she gruffed, handing him his bowl and sitting with her back against his, blowing lightly on the stew in her own. She was much less tolerant of heat than he was.

She felt Jar-hidda rumble through her back, but didn't otherwise feel him move.

"Eat, Jolly, or you'll waste away."

He huffed, "I could have made my own meal."

Nailed it.

"If you hadn't noticed, I've been making a lot of meals for you lately," she snarked back, smirking, "since I'm the one with all the spice knowledge."

He didn't answer.

Taking a mouthful of her breakfast, she looked at her trophies. She didn't say anything pertaining to last night, didn't ask any questions; it was too soon. She could tell he was still raw about it. He would either open up on his own (unlikely), or she would ask later.

"Do you...," he growled, almost so low in tone she didn't hear him, but she felt his voice through her back. She looked over her shoulder, which really only gave her a good look of his tresses. After a moment his shoulders sagged slightly and he continued, "think you would have been... happier... if you had gone with Hashi?"

"Hashi?" Hannah repeated, startled, almost choking on her stew. She leaned over to where she was almost laying on the ground in order to see the side of her friend's face, "is that what this is about?"

They hadn't really spoke of Hashi in several years, and hadn't even seen the kakwue since leaving the atoll of the female that tried to kill her. She still didn't remember much from that time.

Jar-hidda's mandibles shut tightly and he looked away from her, obviously regretting asking. Hannah's snarky smile faded and she shifted into a sitting position by his side, setting down her bowl.

"Honestly Jolly?" she said, lacing her fingers together, "no, I think I would have been miserable if I had gone with Hashi."

The yautja didn't respond at first, then she saw just the barest sliver of gold as he opened his eyes and looked at her side-ways.

She was serious, and her face showed it.

"Hashi was nice, what I remember of him. Kind, gentle caring. But had I gone with him? I've no doubt he would have sheltered me, pampered me, spoiled me really. I would have hated it. I'm happier here, with you, doing the yautja thing."

Jar-hidda turned to face her more fully, his eyes settled on her. She smirked at him.

"I'm honored to be here with you," she leaned forward, tapping her forehead against his shoulder.

He rattled, almost a purr, and Hannah smacked his arm.

"Besides, isn't happiness against the Path or something? Eat," she commanded and he snorted, tossing his tresses and lifting the bowl to his mouth.

Hannah followed his example, lifting the bowl to her lips and enjoying the savory flavor of the stew breakfast.

"Speaking of doing the yautja thing," she said, licking her lips, "have you decided where we're going for the r'ka?"

Jar-hidda's tusks rubbed against each other in minute motions and he lowered the bowl down and stared again at the trophies on his wall. He was silent long enough for her to get curious and look over her shoulder at them, wondering what it was he was seeing. She had done well on the skulls, the damage that had been done was all but invisible, to her at least. She was impressed with herself.

"I have an idea," he admitted finally, lifting the bowl and taking another drink.

Hannah smiled, excited. R'ka had become her favorite creatures to hunt. The small ones' skulls were valuable and she opted to trade them, along with various hides and bones, to other clans for supplies. She kept the ones from her most memorable hunts, as it was with most things.

R'ka, as it turned out, weren't always 'dragons' either, but rather it was a blanket term that encompassed all flying reptilian-like creatures, a seemingly common evolutionary trait in the universe. Jar-hidda had made it a point to explain that Earth had also once had r'ka that yautja had hunted long ago. She realized quickly he was speaking about pterosaurs.

She was rather hoping they were going somewhere new, to hunt a type of r'ka she had never seen before.

And hopefully, it would take Jar-hidda's mind off of Hashi, and he'd soon be back to his old self.

She was very much ready to have the old Jar-hidda back.


	16. Apocalyse

The planet Jar-hidda had chosen had ended up being very far away, they had traveled a long time, at least a month or so, and Hannah has seen some improvement in Jar-hidda's attitude. This hunt would be good for him.

They had arrived while she was asleep. In fact she was surprised that Jar-hidda had let her sleep while he landed the ship, but not for much longer than that, as he came into the room, kicking the furs under her telling her to get ready.

She groaned jokingly, before pouncing out of the bed and rushed out to try to beat him to the room, attempting to nimbly maneuver around him in the process. She managed, but not without the loss of one of her kilts. Said kilt was tossed over her head once her friend swept into the room as she was fitting on her suit. She shook the cloth off and fitted herself into a tight leather suit that fitted her like a second skin.

Jar-hidda had made it from what he had called the 'heat beast,' which for him had been a creature reflecting so much heat that he couldn't read its movements, and to her appeared pure black, as if it was a moving hole in reality.

She put this on first, then put on the wire mesh, the loin cloth, the metal rings around her neck and then her armor. She slipped on the medkit on her shoulder, then her wrist gauntlet, testing the blades by ejecting them quickly and then retracting them. She put her dagger and her special combistick on her hip. She took, also, her quiver and strapped it on her back next to the medkit. Lastly she put on her mask, tapping her wrist-gauntlet and flicking the visuals to life.

She lacked tusks, so she didn't have the intricate interface on the inside of the mask like Jar-hidda's did, everything was controlled which, also unlike Jar-hidda's, was not a bomb. For safety reasons, or so he said. Her gauntlet was instead fixed with a set of triggers that lined the heel of her palm, and with a tap of the first trigger, the laser on her mask came to life, and the barrel of the burner on her shoulder pointed where she aimed. The second trigger fired the weapon if she pressed it. The third and forth buttons had nothing to do with the burner, but controlled the mask's various visions instead. After testing the laser and burner, she pressed the first trigger again to deactivated it.

It was a just-in-case weapon; it was against the Path to use weaponry that was more advanced than what the prey called for, and since they did not hunt sapient prey with guns of their own, it was reserved for only the most dangerous of bestial animals. Her bow was usually sufficient for whatever they were hunting.

She was ready before Jar-hidda was, mostly because she did not show the same reverence to getting prepared as he did, but she remained respectfully silent as he donned his gear, finishing with his mask. He took his glaive from the wall and looked to Hannah, nodding once before whirling around and leading the way out of the room.

She smiled.

He cloaked the ship before they jogged out. She heard the ramp closing behind her but paid little attention to it. They both cloaked, and she was immediately quiet and on the prowl, looking for signs of life, as life would eventually lead to their true prey.

They were surrounded in lush green, branches of verdant needles that hung above them, reaching down nearly to the ground as the trees reached far up into the sky. They cast a thick shade on the ground, disallowing most anything else from growing. The air was surprisingly chilly against the little of her that was exposed. She expected Jar-hidda to have chosen a warmer planet.

 _Cold?_ She signed to her partner, only able to see him through the infra-red visuals where his tattoos burned brighter than the rest of him.

He gave a single shake of his head, and pressed on. She smirked behind her mask and shook her head, continuing on after him.

The soil underneath her feet was almost spongy, making for silent movement. Wherever the r'ka was, it would never hear them coming.

Hannah looked around, knowing that they wouldn't see any birds or squirrels. The simpler animals always went quiet with Jar-hidda around; their survival instincts strong enough to freeze in place till the danger passed.

Silence surrounded them, so the search for life was on the ground: tracks, scat, broken twigs. These things would mark prey for the r'ka, and would lead them closer to the animal. She kept her eyes on the earth, trying to pick up any hint of animal passage. The dry brown needles would make it difficult to pick up prints, but if the animal was heavy enough there would be something still in the dirt.

That's what she found, stopping quickly and bending down. She saw the points of a print where the weight of the animal had pressed the needles down. Picking at the needles she uncovered most of a print: much like a hand print, six-fingered, spread apart and clawed. A hind-foot print showed only four toes more close together and a flatter foot. The way it was shaped made her think of the prints of a giant racoon. A quick search showed that this path crossed theirs perpendicularly, and there was more than one. It was maybe a day old.

Hannah signed to Jar-hidda what she had found, since they would be all but invisible to him and he signed back, following the trail. If they got one of these animals, they could bait the r'ka out of hiding with it.

Hannah led the way, following the signs of this group, a large one, if she was judging correctly, when they came across a small clearing. She stopped when she saw the sunlight filtering through and approached the edge cautiously. Chances were that what they were following did not bed down in the open, and she confirmed that the trail ran straight across it; dark earth had been clawed up and flecked the grass-like ground cover. Frowning she turned to go around the clearing, to pick up the trail on the other side, but stopped when she saw a flash of light.

She stopped and looked, seeing that it had been the sun reflecting off of several white flowers, swaying in the gentle breeze. Her brow furrowed as she looked at it, then looked from side to side before stepping into the clearing. The grass bent silently under her invisible step, not wanting to reveal her location, but there was something about the flower.

Hannah stopped just short of the little bunch and bent down to it, resting on one knee as her fingertips brushed the thin white petals and touched the round yellow center. She studied it in confusion, reaching forward finally and plucking it.

There was no doubt about it in her mind. It was a daisy.

Hannah stood to her feet, staring at it, before turning and looking to Jar-hidda, who was standing silently behind her, some distance away. She looked again at the trees, then the sky, then lifted a hand up and removed her mask, breathing in the crisp morning air. The sky above was blue, cloudless, the sunlight golden.

She looked down again at the white flower.

"Jolly...," she started, looking at him then, "are we on Earth?"

Her friend did not respond at first, staring at her silently, then nodded, just once.

"Your home looks less like ch'ot without the snow."

"My home...?"

She looked around again with wide eyes. This wasn't just Earth, it was Montana, it was Troy. Was it her mountain? Did Jar-hidda take them right to the place that they had left?

No snow, and an oxeye daisy, it was summertime, and it had been ten years, her memory was foggy, but she turned north and started running.

Up the mountain she went, her clawed sandals digging into the earth and her hands hoisting herself up trees and rocks alike. Before long she broke out of the treeline, still heading up the steep path to an outcropping of rocks before stopping.

Taking deep breaths, she was looking up at a cave in the side of the mountain, and from there, she turned to look at an ocean of treetops. It was a sight she still sometimes saw in her dreams, a vision burned into her mind from months of staring out across it.

Jar-hidda decloaked beside her, looking out also to the trees, then to her, silently.

Slowly, her stare of awe turned into a smile as she breathed.

"Wow."

Then her brow furrowed, looking over at the yautja. He was still silent. And he would remain so, she knew it.

Slowly, her face broke out into another grin, her brow furrowed.

He tilted his head slowly, innocently.

" _Big softie_ ," she teased him in English. His head snapped up straight and he shook his tresses with a snort, denying everything.

Her grin grew and she smacked his arm, dancing out of his reach and challenging him with her smile. He looked down at where her hand had hit him, then slowly back up at her.

She snickered.

He roared.

Over the outcropping of rocks she jumped, landing and rolling on her shoulder, narrowly dodging around Jar-hidda as he landed heavily on the earth, before taking off down the mountain, running down the same way she had come up. She laughed as she vanished back into the tree line, swinging around trees, kicking up dark earth behind her, leaving far too easy tracks to follow.

She didn't care.

She caught Jar-hidda running parallel to her out the corner of her eye. She smiled and veered away as he lunged towards her. Dirt and needles flew as she skirted around him, wristblades carving tranches into the ground to allow her to pivot. She launched off of the ground and over his sweeping arm, retracting her blades and flipping to land behind him.

He spun around quickly, avoiding the sweep of her leg gracefully landing on his heel and snatching at her as she ran past him again, laughing. He snorted, mockingly, barreling after her. They were playing, having fun in lieu of any actual r'ka to hunt.

She was filled with so many emotions; she felt so high, like she was flying, racing down the mountain through the trees, her heart pounding. She slowed to a stop when she came to a gaping maw, staring out across it, filled with foliage.

Jar-hidda jogged up behind her, smacking her shoulder then looking at the hole also.

"It was here," she sighed. Jar-hidda rattled.

This was the crater where her home had been, a small localized area of nothing where Jar-hidda's bomb had done its work. She didn't feel much loss, looking at the space, the one thing she felt most attached to was kept safe in the Kut'kuni. Though something did catch her eye and she wandered over to it with a wide smile.

Her truck had not weathered the years well at all. It was one uniform color, the same as Jar-hidda's armor, the tires had rotted away to nothing, as had the interior. It was full of holes.

She moved her hand over the frame without touching it, it looked like it would fall apart if she did. She looked down the overgrown road. Down that road was another, and down that one was Troy. Memories of Mike, Ellen and John flooded back and she frowned slightly.

"I wonder what the city looks like now," she murmured and Jar-hidda rattled.

"Do you want to see?" he asked, and she looked over at him, where he stood nearby, keeping his distance.

Hannah looked him up and down with her eyes only, now wondering what this had all been about. As a gift it was nice to be on Earth after so long, not that she had any intention of staying, but usually the gift-giver was not in such a somber mood, especially since she was enjoying herself.

Maybe it was because he was technically not supposed to be doing this according to the Path? She didn't know, but she looked down the road, and smiled a bit nostalgically. Her three friends would not be there, but still, she wanted to see.

"Yeah, let's go," she said, tapping her gauntlet and recloaking. Jar-hidda did the same and they ran down the road until they found the main one, in quite a bit of disrepair it seemed. Large cracks crossed the asphalt, but harsh winters did that, and they both knew how harsh the winter could be.

They kept to the trees as they followed the snaking road. After about an hour, they passed a car that looked in as bad of condition as Hannah's truck, a small dinky car that reminded Hannah of what Alexa and the others had been driving when they came up to see her.

She wondered how Alexa was doing, was she still on the run after what went down with Weyland at the cave?

Her wondering came to a a halt after they passed another car, and then another. Hannah's brisk pace slowed, looking at a vehicle in the middle of the road, flipped onto its top. She moved to the road again and looked down it. More cars, as far as she could see, all rusted, some facing the wrong direction on the road.

"What... the hell?" she asked, looking at Jar-hidda. He surveyed the scene with as much curiosity, before the eyes of his mask landed on her, flashing.

Hannah turned, picking up the pace and ran down the road.

When Troy finally came into sight, Hannah stopped and stared. The buildings were derelict, overgrown, grass and plants grew through the concrete, cars lined the streets, some were wrecked into buildings. There were no signs of life.

It looked more like Chernobyl than it did Troy.

Hannah stared, mouth gaping. She moved slowly forward, barely aware of Jar-hidda beside her. She looked into a car, but there was nothing inside.

What had happened? Everything seemed to suggest that there had been a catastrophe, some attempt at evacuation, but with all the cars left behind, especially the wrecked ones, she would have expected some remains of people. There would be nothing but bones after ten years, but there weren't even those.

She jogged down the road to a small building, no door, and looked inside. Nothing. Stock from the shelves was knocked everywhere, mostly rotted away. She stepped back and walked down the sidewalk, slowing her step, before turning down the street.

Down the way, in the distance, was a strange dome shape. She furrowed her brow, tilting her head as she stepped forward, trying to discern what it was. Smooth, white, seemingly bleached by the sun. It was segmented vertically by thick lines, which led to a sort of pointed top, blooming out into flat round petals.

Her advance was suddenly stopped by a heavy hand on her shoulder yanking her back. She swallowed a protest and shot a look to Jar-hidda, who removed his hand and began tapping on his gauntlet, stepping backwards. Hannah swallowed, remaining quiet as she followed his lead.

She wanted to know what was happening, he seemed to recognize the dome. Was it some kind of science facility put here after whatever disaster? She recalled that Weyland had told her Jar-hidda had destroyed some building of Yutani's... was this what it looked like? A secret bunker where alien technology was studied?

More importantly, why were they running away from it?

Hannah's wide-eyed gaze jerked back down the road as she heard a scream. It was a cougar, high-pitched, breathy, chilling.

What scared her more was the three burners on Jar-hidda's shoulders coming to life. The laser on his mask lit and swept across the ground, pointing down the street.

At a mass of writhing blackness.

Hannah stepped back, hastily putting on her mask and also activating her burner, it aiming also at the mass of black bodies as they came into view. Shiny, black eyeless creatures with elongated heads. They didn't give off any body heat whatsoever. With her mask on she couldn't see them, but with it off she couldn't aim her burner.

Cursing she ripped the mask off and pulled her combistick. Jar-hidda slid, putting an arm out to signal her to stop and stay behind him as he began to cast ball after ball of blue fire into the tsunami rolling towards them. Hannah looked at his arm, then at the creatures. She didn't heed, extending her bow and notching an arrow.

Why was he shooting at creatures that didn't have weapons? Granted there seemed to be _thousands_ of them; where there exceptions to the rule if the numbers were this overwhelming? That's when she recognized what they were.

Kainde amedha.

Jar-hidda's ship appeared in the sky, decloaking and landing behind them, the ramp lowering.

"Get on the ship," Jar-hidda ordered, still shooting into the wave that screamed at them as they approached. Hannah hopped to the balls of her feet, spinning and running straight to the ship without question, glancing behind and seeing Jar-hidda fire once more into the serpents before following after her. Her sandals slammed against the ramp and Jar-hidda all but jumped inside, punching the panel to close the ram and door and tapping his gauntlet, causing the ship to lift off.

Hannah stared at the wall as Jar-hidda walked off.

"What... what was that!? What happened!?" she screamed, storming after him, "what's going on!?"

She knew he didn't know, but the questions just came piling out. Her questions stopped when she heard screaming and screeching on the outside of the ship.

"Oh shit they're on us," she cursed, coming to a stop by Jar-hidda's seat as he was pounding on it. The joystick came out and Hannah hunkered down by the chair and held on. Jar-hidda spun the vessel around, firing more into the mountain of kainde amedha. He jerked the stick to the side and spun the ship when a tail slithered across the windshield, dagger-like tip threatening to stab into it.

Black bodies flew off of, quickly vanishing from vision, before Jar-hidda angled the ship and shot at a steep angle into the atmosphere, then out of it.

Hannah was shaking, her knuckled white, staring breathless at the void in front of them. When she remembered how to breathe, she whispered.

"What the fuck?"


	17. Aftermath

Sorry for the long wait guys, tax season and all. Posting schedule should improve after April and hopefully if I get another job, we will never have to deal with Tax season again. Small note before we dive right in: the trilogy and all of my other AvP stories were planned and outlined before Alien: Covenant came out in theatres. Discrepancies to the lore established by the movie are due to the age of the blueprints of the story. Sorry if this causes confusion. Final note to those guests who review my stories: I do greatly appreciate your feedback and well wishes! I'm sad I'm unable to respond to you directly but thank you for your kind words, and I'm glad you're all enjoying the stories so far.

Alright, without further ado:

* * *

It was her turn to pace now, back and forth across the small space of the cockpit. She was trying to piece together a timeline in her mind of possible events that could have lead to what had happened. Jar-hidda was still in his seat. He had naturally not answered any of her questions, but his eyes were distant, revealing that he was lost deep in thought.

"Alright, so," Hannah said quietly, stopping in her tracks, "the pyramid at Bouvetoya didn't get... completely destroyed by the bomb like we saw on that... youngblood's recording. Like the queen, some eventually get out of the snow, it takes them a while to get out and... swim from the island to... probably Norway," she sighed, already losing faith in this hypothesis, "would it take them fifty years? If it happened sooner than that... something would have been said, or done, even a story to act as a cover-up, something."

Growling she resumed pacing.

"Doesn't Chul-yaun's clan have some kind of partial claim over Earth?" she asked, looking at Jar-hidda, "wouldn't they see it happening and try and stop it?"

"No."

Hannah stopped, staring at him.

All she could see was the back of his chair and an arm, but his voice came to her loud and clear.

"None of the clans who share custody would. As far as anyone was concerned, the chiva was over, the bomb detonated, the kainde amedha and their queen killed. Chul-yaun's responsibility towards the matter only extended to eradicating the abomination that was born from it, that was all. If a seeded planet-," Jar-hidda rattled, low in his throat.

"This isn't the first time something like this has happened," he admitted, standing but keeping his back to her, "many planets get seeded for a chiva and the kainde amedha overtake the indigenous creatures. Nothing is done to stop it, as kainde amedha are worth far more than whatever host species they're destroying. It's been that way since... since the Ocutvo-ix."

Hannah was perplexed by the sound of guilt in Jar-hidda's tone. Like he was somehow personally responsible for the spread of these things. He turned to her, and looked so very defeated.

It hurt.

She bit her lip, sighing and running a hand over her braids, thinking of all the people that had to have been killed on earth. When she had left, earth's population was at almost ninety-seven billion. Was everywhere like that? Were there pockets of survivors, heavily militarized, holding them off?

She didn't feel as sad about it as maybe she should have, but she had never been truly fond of her own kind, really, but the thought that maybe there were people left and they should do something to help them stuck in her mind.

"You're going to have to run that one by me again, what is the Octuvo-ix?" she asked, changing the subject, and Jar-hidda rattled, straightening up slightly, shoulders squaring, fists clenching.

He looked at her, as if deciding if now was the best time or not, and the corner of her mouth twitched down.

"They were called the Mala'kaks, a race of people we had been at war with far longer than there was even animals on your planet. That war was called the Octuvo-ix. They didn't like that we hunted their... creations."

Hannah was still sometimes unused to the continued notions of just how old yautja were as a species, traveling through space since before the time of the dinosaurs. It was a surprise that they weren't more advanced. But their culture strove for basic simplicity, which probably put a huge damper on progress.

"Given that you're using past-tense, I'm guessing they don't exist anymore?"

"They do," Jar-hidda rattled, moving and walking past her towards the back of the ship, "they created the kainde amedha as weapons to use against us. All they did was give us better prey to hunt. Their creations turned against them though, and nearly destroyed them completely. They live now on a single planet, and no longer travel through space. We claimed the entire void as our own, and fight any who defy our dominion."

He paused and rattled, amused, "I actually went to the council of high eldresses to warn them that soon humans would be traveling into the void, challenging that dominance, but they thought you too stupid to make it much further than your own system. That's when they sent me back to reclaim Halkrath-th'syra's honor. Most likely hoping that I would also die in the process, putting an end to my heresy."

Hannah smirked, but it didn't last long, "well, no humans going to the void now," she murmured, looking to her side. Her brow furrowed, then looked at Jar-hidda, "you said that, after the Octuvo-ix you began to seed planets with the kainde amedha?"

Jar-hidda nodded once, "victorious, we took their latest creations and," he made a sweeping motion, coming to a stop in the hallway, "and spread it through the void. Seeding planets, building temples, subjugating entire civilizations in order to have hosts for the sei'ute'praey for our chivas. Chivas changed from gaining honor from any dangerous prey to only hunting the kainde amedha as a rite of passage. They were the ultimate prey, nothing was better, they became something... sacred to us; they were like d'yeka, the divine prey of Nuo'ethy."

Hannah sighed and nodded, "so yeah, no one cared if entire people got wiped out by these things."

He clicked in acknowledgment.

"And now humans are gone."

He rattled slowly, his head tilting down as his hands balled into fists.

Hannah frowned, then unfolded her arms and laid a hand in the middle of his back, "I don't blame you Jolly," she clarified, and saw his head turn towards her slightly, "the yautja as a whole, maybe," she half-joked, "but not you."

Jar-hidda's head tipped down again. Hannah's smile softened, tapping her head against his shoulder again, "it was nice to see Earth again regardless. Thanks for taking me."

Her friend turned just a bit more to look at her, before nodding once and continuing down his way towards the trophy room. He was taking the loss of humanity harder than she was, but she could imagine why. He actually liked humans, having been friends with so many.

Hannah hesitated in following him, biting her lip and struggling internally with what had happened and what she had learned. She knew it was tragic, but she felt so distant from it; like hearing about hurricanes that smacked the gulf and killed thousands of people, while she was thousands of miles away land-locked and isolated. It was sad, but she wasn't sad.

Finally she followed Jar-hidda in and found him kneeling in front of his trophies, staring at the human skulls.

"Please don't break them again, I just fixed those," she said quickly, moving over to him. He shot her a look then turned slowly back to them.

"With humans now extinct, these will be very valuable," he said somberly. Hannah looked at them, then smirked.

"Guess you can get some worth-while things once I die—."

Hannah nearly jumped out of her skin as Jar-hidda let out a roar, not the challenge-issuing bellow she was used to, but a guttural shriek as he stood to his feet and whirling towards her. She backed away only to be snatched by her shoulders, her friend's face inches from hers.

"Don't."

It was the only thing he snarled but it sent shivers down Hannah's spine. She stared at him in utter confusion, her eyes searching his face, his mouth tightly closed, his mandibles spread his yellow eyes boring into hers, his brow deeply bent.

" _What the hell Jolly_!? _"_ she sputtered in English before demanding, "what's gotten into you!?"

She tied to shake free of his grip, but it was like iron, and his claws threatened to pierce through the black suit and into her skin.

"Jar-hidda! what's wrong!?"

He didn't react or answer, he didn't even move save for his chest which was heaving. His golden eyes burned into hers under his spiked brow, unblinking.

Slowly his shoulders sagged, his forehead uncreased, his mandibles closed shut over his mouth. The last thing to relax was his grip on her, which she fought out of the moment it weakened enough. She glared at him, but couldn't find real anger towards her friend. She was worried, frustrated.

"Jolly...," she tried to sooth, reaching a hand to touch his shoulder, but he stepped away from her, turning and kneeling again.

"Leave me," he gruffed and her eyes hardened on his back, ready to refuse the order and press the matter, until he added softly, "please... Hannah."

She remained put for a moment, eyes roving along the dalmatian-like spots on his skin, then nodded.

"Alright Jolly," she whispered, turning and leaving the room. She shut the door behind her to give him space and privacy, and went back to their room, alone with her own thoughts.


	18. Moving Up

They had agreed to go see Chul-yaun, if not to see if he knew what had happened to earth, then to let him know what had happened so that it could be reported to the council of eldresses, seeing as that they were not so keen on listening to Jar-hidda when he told them things.

Hannah was certain that Chul-yaun was just going to _love_ seeing her again, what with the last time they had been there she had brought up a very embarrassing moment in their clan's history and then caused a fight with a yautja who decided he hated her enough to forgo the Path and become bad-blood _just_ so that he could kill her. Now they were about to possibly be letting him know that the human population of the planet he shared ownership of was just gone now, likely because of the fuck-up with the temple and the chiva.

Though the whole meeting was supposed to be short, amicable and informative, Hannah dressed in full gear, just in case.

Jar-hidda did as well, likely not wanting to risk another episode with someone turned bad blood. That or to fend off any females demanding he breed with them.

Then again, maybe that was what he needed to get out of the mood he was in.

When the ramp lowered, and the ceremony got underway, Hannah risked a look around. The numbers of the clan had increased since they were there last, surprising since yautja took so long to grow, but she had to remind herself that she had no idea how many unblooded warriors they had just waiting in the wings, just ready to join the ranks.

For all she knew it only took ten years for one-hundred members to be blooded.

Hannah turned her focus back to Chul-yaun as his speech concluded and the spears tapped on the ground. She hefted the weight of her trophy on her hip and looked to the side, allowing Jar-hidda to speak for them, as that would probably be better in the long run.

"Thank you honored Chul-yaun. I wish to keep this visit brief."

The leader of the Yeyin-thei-de clan clicked in mock amusement, "we'll see if the females let you leave so quickly."

Hannah smirked behind her mask. The two of them followed Chul-yaun out of the bay and further into the Resh'skama.

"What is the purpose of your visit, Jar-hidda?"

Her friend tilted his head down and Hannah kept a sharp eye in his continence. If he faltered, she'd take over, whether Chul-yaun liked her or not. She would not suffer her friend to lose face here, of all places.

"I've returned from a visit to Jh'uda-tjauke," he rattled slowly and Chul-yaun nodded, "it's been taken over by the kainde amedha."

Chul-yaun stopped dead in his tracks. His beads rang as he jerked his head to Jar-hidda with a snarl of surprise, followed by silence. The clan leader was determining if Jar-hidda spoke the truth, then bristled.

It was easy to tell by the reaction, Chul-yaun knew nothing about this.

"How long ago?"

"I left from the planet straight to you, Elder."

Chul-yaun whipped around, walking now at a brisk pace, "come with me, I must see this," he said, then jerked a clawed hand at Hannah, "she stays behind."

Hannah stopped and clicked once in acknowledgment, bowing her head with her fist to her chest, then looked to Jar-hidda, who gave her a quick backwards glance as he continued on. She signed to him that she would be fine, and watched him vanish out of view.

Great.

She heaved a sigh before lifting her trophy up onto her shoulder and making her way to the common room. It was filled, as always, and Hannah was glad to not see Bhu'ja-zhu-ju'dha was not there. That would have been far too convenient, and she would really have to start questioning his motivations.

She spotted a relatively unoccupied pit and approached it. These were more mature warriors, so hopefully the blood in their veins was not so hot. She approached respectfully, inclining her head and pounding a fist to her armor.

"Honored sain'ja, may I sit among you?"

They had every right to tell her 'no,' or even to fight her for even addressing them. The males looked at each other and then one made a sign with a click for her to take a seat. She bowed her head and slid into the pit, setting the trophy onto the ground beside her.

"Greetings Numyakuo'ide," the warrior said and she inclined her head to him, before spotting and signaling an eta for drink.

"You're here with Jar-hidda?"

"Always," she answered simply with an amused rattle. The thought of her traveling alone and willingly visiting other yautja was very amusing.

The other yautja seemed to notice the humor in it as they laughed as well, relaxing.

The horse-faced eta came and brought her a drink in a bowl, and she inclined her head to it, something it seemed surprised at, before quickly moving along.

Hannah would never forget the eta she got killed, the least she could do was respect the others.

"This is a new r'ka," one of the sain'ja said and Hannah looked at the skull, then nodded.

Unlike the worm-headed thing she had first brought down, these particular r'ka were more reptilian, their heads had been long, pointed, with bony crests on their chins, and folding viper-like teeth. They had also been very colorful, a detail Jar-hidda had missed out on. The hides would have likely been very valuable if the yautja saw like she did.

They weren't ground creatures, at all, and so her bow had come in handy bringing one down.

Luckily these ones didn't breathe fire.

"When did you hunt it?"

"On my last season," she answered. It had literally been the last trophy that she had gotten before they got stuck on Ch'ot. Hannah smiled, knowing that it wasn't answers that the sain'ja wanted, but a story. Bhu'ja-zhu-ju'dha had told her long ago that a good story would get her as much of a reputation as the trophy itself. He told her that, because she had been bad at storytelling.

Personally she didn't think she had improved at all, and she wasn't wanting to really test out her skills against these seasoned warriors. But, she leaned forward anyway, ready to try.

"We went to Faos-das, for the warmth, you see," she joked, "we arrived at night, the jungle was sweltering. Well, for me at least, Jar-hidda was fine."

The warriors chuckled. She smiled and continued, "at night, we went out to the jungle, everything was lit with bright lights, like heat blooms, everywhere. In the plants and the animals, but these were things Jar-hidda could not see," she caught the attention of the warriors, who leaned forward, perplexed.

"So I used this light to take my path towards the cliffs while Jar-hidda went around the other way," she swept her hands, showing that the two of them were circling, "and just as we got to the cliffs, the entire flock," she threw her hands up into the air, "took off, screeching and roaring, so many it was impossible to tell one from the other. For my eyes, they were covered in mottling, like spots of cold blackness all over their bodies," she demonstrated by drawing circles on her arm, "adding to the confusion. We weren't certain what had spooked them, but they were flying away, out of reach.

"As you know, we couldn't use a burner against these kinds, so I took my bow," and she lifted and extended the weapon, causing the tether to snap between the two ends and the four arrows to extend out. She snatched an arrow and swiftly notched it, aiming at the ceiling and pulling it back, "and I shot it," she added, relaxing her draw and using the arrow to pantomime it sailing through the air, "and I struck one, causing it to fall."

She showed a spot on her side, where her ribs met the rest of the body, putting the tip of the arrow there, before sliding it back into the weapon.

"The hunt was mine now so Jar-hidda stood aside. With it grounded now, I took my combistick," and she retracted the ends of the weapon and the tether, the four arrows vanishing into the body, "and I rushed towards it. It tried to snap at me, but I danced out of the way," she twisted her body, "and stabbed it in its side. It turned to bite me again, and I moved again, plunging the spear into it again. Blood covered the ground," she swept her hands with her palms pointed down, "but it kept fighting, suddenly, grabbing my shoulder with its teeth, and it shook me around, before throwing me to the dirt."

Hannah leaned forward, peeling back her armor and moving the suit and mesh down to show the scars "so I stood with my combistick as it rushed towards me. And I readied myself, and put one end of the spear against the ground, and held it. When the r'ka came at me, I moved out of the way, just as it tried to bite into me again, and it ran into my spear, and it went all the way in," she touched her chest, "as it was dying, I went over and slit its throat to end it quickly, and had to cut my spear completely out of its body."

The warriors winced at the thought of any kind of throat-slicing, but it was, at this point, her gimmick. It was the very name they called her. She smirked behind her mask, retracting the combistick fully and putting it back on her hip as the warriors rattled.

"You killed it quickly, well done," one of them stated.

"The pyode amedha of that planet also make good hunting," another said.

Hannah nodded, slowly and silently, recalling the four-armed blue people, "yes, but we were only there for the r'ka this time."

The sain'ja seemed to accept this answer.

"I'm impressed you brought it out of the sky with such a tiny stick," the third chimed in, and Hannah was glad the conversation moved on so quickly.

Hannah laughed, "yes, Jar-hidda was as well when I did that with my first r'ka."

The three of them nodded and Hannah settled again. The warriors took turns telling stories of their latest hunts. Hannah listened but was distracted with wonderings and concern for her friend. The time passed quickly. Hannah was beginning to worry she would be returning to the ship alone, which had turned out badly the last time, until she noticed Jar-hidda arriving at the entrance to the room. Seemed he hadn't been caught by a female afterall.

"I have to go now, thank you for sharing your time with me," she said, inclining her head.

"Thank you for sharing your stories," they responded.

Hannah picked up her r'ka skull and backed respectively out of the pit, before turning and making her way to her friend, rather than make him walk all the way into the room to be assaulted and nagged by all the youngbloods.

"What did you find?" she asked and Jar-hidda rattled.

"This seemed to have happened recently," he said, turning so that they could walk quickly to the bay before any females stopped him, "Chul-yaun is looking into it, he will send word what he finds, he also will have to report this to the council of eldresses."

Hannah nodded. Jar-hidda wasn't in any kind of better mood. She was seriously thinking delaying long enough that he _could_ get mated, not entirely uncertain that wasn't his problem.

"So now we leave?" she asked and Jar-hidda rattled in uncertainty.

"I want to learn what happened, but it may take time, time I'm not willing to spend here."

"Aww, I was just starting to make friends," Hannah teased and Jar-hidda stopped, looking at her sideways, "I'm serious, I was telling three sain'ja about this r'ka, they were very impressed," her tone continued to be teasing, despite the honesty of what she said.

Jar-hidda's yellow eyes peered into hers and she shook her head, laughing softly, "I'm joking Jolly. Let's go on a hunt, like we planned, work all this out of our systems, and then we can come back, when we're not so raw from shock."

She said all this quietly, knowing that admitting to any kind of weakness was a very bad idea for Jar-hidda. He rattled in agreement, giving a glance down the way before turning.

"Yes, let's go before any females get any ideas."

Hannah smirked, patting her friend on his backside, "yes, let's not demoralize all the sain'ja here with your 'hunter's prowess'."

Jar-hidda rattled and then laughed for the first time in what felt like years.


	19. Greiving

It's been a while guys, sorry about that. A lot happened around the time I was supposed to come back: tax season ended and was hectic, I was laid off, had to job search for a couple weeks, got a job that wouldn't start for a month so did more job searching to hold me over till then, a bunch of family events came up and when I sat down to finally write, I hit a block. I'm back on my feet now and I apologize if the next chapters seem a bit disjointed, as I tried to write them despite the writer's block and the writing felt very forced, so it might read a bit like that as well. Thank you all for bearing with my frequent random absences, with my new job (where I'll never have to deal with taxes again) they will hopefully be less frequent. I hope you enjoy, and please let me know if something in the story is off or needs tweaking.

* * *

Their duty done, and no answers to be had concerning the fate of the human race, the two left the Resh'skama and shot off into the void, as far away and as quickly as possible. Jar-hidda was still somber, though she would not let him live down that his spirits had risen at least a little bit as they were leaving. Still, she was worried about him, so much was happening to him in such a little amount of time. He needed something to recover from all that. A break. Maybe they could go back to his sanctuary for some time a few months, do nothing for a while, hunt food, soak in hotpools.

She had a feeling this wouldn't help anything, though. Without knowing what was wrong, she had no idea what would help. At this point, getting back on with life seemed like the best option; putting one foot in front of the other and making it through day-by-day like they always did.

A thoughtful frown twisted her lips and she looked up from where she was leaning against the wall, to where Jar-hidda sat in chair, silent and still, staring at the hologram in front of him. She was certain he wasn't actually seeing it though.

Hannah opened her mouth to say something, but no thoughts came to even form words. She shut her mouth and screwed her eyes back to the floor. Finally, she pushed with her shoulders off of the wall, walking over to her friend, before dramatically lounging on his shoulders with a heavy sigh.

"Let's go hunt an r'ka," she groaned, feeling him rumble through her skin. She smirked and shifted, trying to wiggle her way into his seat, managing finally to sit in his lap, her legs over one of the arms, one crossed over the other, her arms thrown over the other arm. She twisted her face to one of despair, "I have a hole in my soul only dangerous flying reptiles can fill."

Jar-hidda stared at her with his arms partially raised. His brow twisted in confusion, before he swiftly and roughly pushed her from his lap. She hit the ground laughing, sitting back up. One of his upper mandibles twitched; he was trying not to smile.

"Come on," she groaned again, trying to crawl back up to his lap, but his hand engulfed her skull and pushed her far away from him, holding her in place with his arm straight and elbow locked, his other hand gripping the arm of his chair. She waggled her arms in the space between them, grinning. He grunted in response, leaning forward in his chair to push her a little further.

"I'm serious," she laughed, her hands moving to his and trying to pry his fingers from her scalp. When this failed she stretched her arms to reach him, to try to slap at his knee or calf, but his arm was much longer than hers, and seemingly to emphasize this point, he leaned forward in his seat, pushing her even further away from him.

She laughed and he clicked in amusement.

"I don't understand," Jar-hidda growled as Hannah tried to pry his fingers off her scalp, "you just lost your entire species. How can you be like this?"

Hannah relaxed her fingers against his and looked up at her friend solemnly.

"Humans to me are like what other yautja are to you, Jar-hidda," she finally replied. She felt his hand lift off of her head and she watched him sit back in his chair as she added, "if all of the yautja in the universe died tomorrow, would you care very much?"

Jar-hidda clicked in consideration, tilting his head as he eyed Hannah. She folded her arms and considered him as well. She realized it was a bit of a difficult question for him to answer. As a yautja he should not fear loss of anything, something he was already fairly bad at, but did that sort of thing apply to such a large scale of his entire species?

Either way she suspected the answer was 'no.'

After a moment, Jar-hidda rattled, leaning forward and resting his elbow on his knee.

"No, I wouldn't."

Hannah smirked victoriously, reaching out and smacking his shoulder, before going to and hoisting her trophy onto her hip, "great. Let's go hunt r'ka."

Her friend sat back in his chair and tapped some buttons, bringing up his screen and plotting a course. Hannah let him choose the venue while she went into the trophy room to put the skull of her r'ka away, as well as her weapons and armor. She glanced at the human skulls on the wall and sighed, shaking her head as she set the skull on its spike.

"You guys really did a number on him didn't you?" she asked the ghosts. There was naturally no response as she stripped down to her loin cloth. She paused to look at the Jar-hidda had commissioned for her, sitting on it's pedestal, reaching out and touching its brow.

"I guess I have too."

She left the trophy room and went to grab a kilt from their room, returning to the cockpit where the stars were now moving as lines past the front window. They were already well enough away from the atoll going at this speed, and the distance was welcome.

"Where to then?"

"Keurzh," Jar-hidda answered, getting up from his chair and grabbing his trophy from the ground.

She had never heard of this planet before, and she plopped down into the chair Jar-hidda vacated, despite his growl, and looked at the planet. It was very large, had rings and several moons. The screens were always a pain to try to read just by looking at them, some of the information was in degrees of heat that she could not see with just her naked eye. So after trying to decipher the map, she gave up and put her mask back on.

It appeared that the planet was a gas giant and it was one of the moons they were going to. It made her grin. She always enjoyed visiting moons, the planet lighting up the sky with strange colors. One of the things she could enjoy as a human that Jar-hidda would never experience.

It slowly dawned on her that Jar-hidda hadn't made any kind of noise in a while and she turned to look over the seat at the back of the ship. She slipped off and headed down to the trophy room, and found him kneeling again before the skulls of the humans. She leaned against the doorway, sudying the form of his straightened back and his squared shoulders, unacknowledged by him, possibly even unnoticed, as his gaze was fixed on his trophies. Hannah frowned, then sighed and stepped in, moving to him and kneeling down in front of him. She had his attention now, golden eyes flicked down from the skulls to her.

She felt unease creep in. She wasn't good at this sort of thing, probably because when she had a major loss, people around her hadn't been very good at it either. She could really offer Jar-hidda nothing of value that would ease the pain he was obviously hiding. But still she took a breath and sighed again, this time at herself.

"I'm... sorry for what you've lost... Jolly," she began looking down at her hands and feeling a bit ridiculous as Jar-hidda's face tipped down to look at her more fully, "and... I know it's wrong and against the Path or something or whatever... I don't know," she huffed, then frowned and lifted a hand, reaching for and slowly placing it on her friend's arm, looking up at him again, "but I'm here for you. If... if you need me... for anything..."

Hannah shut her mouth and shut herself up before she could ramble and make an even bigger fool or herself, and of Jar-hidda.

The yautja looking down at her from his height through partially closed eyes. He shifted, and his hand went to hers, which she began to draw away in anticipation of him brushing it off, but instead she felt the weight of his palm press hers to his wrist, before lifting again and grasping her shoulder firmly.

"Thank you... my friend."

His voice was so low Hannah almost missed it, but once it registered she stared at him with wide eyes. She nodded, regardless of her shock, and then smiled, a tad strained, but genuine. It must have killed him to say it. To Acknowledge that he needed something like this. It spoke volumes to her on the amount of pain he had to be in.

"How about we get you something to eat before you waste away?" she offered quietly, before the silence had time to linger too long. Jar-hidda didn't respond and shifted to his feet from his knees. Hannah followed suit and led him to the kitchen. She would allow Jar-hidda to mourn, something she was certain he never would have with another yautja ever, but for now, she would distract him as best she could, food, sleep, training and hunting, and letting the grieving come on his terms, when and how he wanted, for however long he needed. It was a courtesy she had not been given, and it was the least she could do.


	20. No Need to Mourn

The rest of the trip had gone on in relative silence. Hannah paid special attention to his non-verbal ques that he wanted to be left alone, or if he wanted her near. The times she was near they sat together in silence, side-by-side. When he wanted solitude, she stayed nearby enough to be called if he needed. He had a couple episodes of rage in the week that they travelled, but luckily no more incidents of breaking things. They sparred once, and it ended the moment he drew blood on Hannah, where he sent her away immediately after and spent an hour alone in the trophy room.

Nothing seemed to be working.

Hannah felt absolutely useless, and cursed herself out multiple times for not knowing what she needed to do or how she could help. And more than once she paced the hallway pulling at her braids.

She had thought up and dismissed several hair-brained ideas, up to and including seducing the giant male alien just in case that helped _anything_. She quickly reminded herself that neither of them were into that sort of thing and figured her other hair-brained idea of drugging him with some kind of narcotic, somehow, was a more likely solution.

By the time they arrived, Jar-hidda was in such a state that Hannah was debating calling off the hunt. It seemed that he had similar ideas because he set the ship to just orbit the moon, and made no preparations for landing.

Hannah stared out the window, staring at the mood with a deep frown, pressure building in her chest. Jar-hidda had left her there wishing to be alone and move to the training room, and she had been sitting in the seat trying to figure out how to get the damn ship to land but it rejected her commands basically telling her to go fuck herself with how many times it gave her an error sound.

She lifted her hand to hit the controls, balled up her fist, and stood up out of the chair instead. No need to accidentally fire off some shots at the innocent satellite. She walked down the hallway and paced, slowly calming down each time she passed the closed door, until finally she came to a stop outside it. She stared are the dark metal listening and knowing she would not hear anything from within. She lifted her hand to the panel to open it before hesitating.

What could she really do? She said she would be there for him, but she couldn't force herself in either. She hated when people did that after her mother died.

She sighed, resting her head against the door. What did one do when two very proud people were trying to deal with something so personal?

" _I should have taken psychology in school_ ," she scolded herself with a whisper. She then bit back, steeled herself and reached to slam her hand against the panel. That was when she became aware of a sound. She turned her head down the hallway back towards the front of the ship. She turned and walked to the cockpit. The screen had turned on, and was showing blinking triangles. Hannah recognized the symbols. But the alarm hadn't gone off. She sat down and read the symbols, her brow bending in confusion.

"Uh... Jar-hidda?" she called to the back, loud enough to be heard through the door, "we have a ship approaching?"

It took a moment but she heard Jar-hidda step up behind her swiftly, his claws catching the back of the chair before turning it, all but tossing Hannah out of it and sitting down. He began to press buttons furiously, growling in confusion. Hannah recovered from her unceremonious dethronement and looked back as the screen brought up an image of the ship and scans. It had weapons.

"I've never seen this make before," Jar-hidda rattled. Hannah looked from him to the screen and the ship now displayed on it, and leaned forward, getting a better look at it.

"Does it say anything about what's on board?"

"Three thousand, six-hundred and twenty-four heat signatures," Jar-hidda responded.

"That's bigger than any atoll I've visited."

Jar-hidda rattled. Hannah's hand on the back of the seat tightened, "I don't like how fast they're approaching."

"I don't either, which is why I cloaked the ship."

"I think they already know we're here."

Jar-hidda growled and tapped the armchair, bringing up the joy stick and gripping it. Just as he began to turn the ship to head away form the approaching one, to go perpendicular to the path of the unknown vessel, the screen flashed, a haunting alarm from the past resounded, and Jar-hidda jerked the ship to the side. Hannah felt the chair dig hard into her hip as she caught herself on the seat, crouching down to have a better center of balance, watching as a streak of light flew past the windshield and into the void of space.

Hannah snarled. Jar-hidda roared. The alien vessel was shooting at them.

Righting the ship, Jar-hidda input commands into his seat, reaching for and pulling Hannah into the seat with him so that the straps would extend over the both of them.

"You really need to install a second seat," Hannah quipped.

"Yautja don't make seats for asses as small as yours," Jar-hidda rattled back.

Of course _now_ he spoke freely to her and joked. But there was some solace in this, he could still joke, which meant that he didn't think the situation was that bad. Hannah relaxed a bit and looked at the screen again, as the ship kept approaching. This wasn't entirely surprising; the Kut'kuni was an older model of ship even by yautja standards. Whatever this ship was likely outclassed it in a number of ways.

But they didn't have Jar-hidda for a pilot.

Jar-hidda watched the screen blink again and swerved his ship to the side, streaks of light flying past. He growled and dropped the cloak of the ship, given that it was obvious they knew where they were, there was no need to delegate power to that function. Instead he put the power towards his weapons, Hannah watching as heat moved from around the ship to the blasters, and she held onto the arms of the chair.

Jar-hidda sent the ship into a spin, keeping the same plane, and once the massive ship came into view he fired. They fired back which forced him to turn the ship, making a quick arch that put them into the perpendicular path he had originally been going for, and he redirected power to his engines. Hannah's back pressed against Jar-hidda's chest with the force of the ships sudden increase in speed, and the little triangular shape that marked them on the screen began quickly moving away.

They were running from a fight.

Hannah grit her teeth with this knowledge, but placated herself by admitting they knew nothing of the enemy; who they were, why they attacked them, how it was they could see Jar-hidda's cloaked ship. For all she knew this was a ship of those mala'kaks Jar-hidda had mentioned, though he admitted himself he didn't recognize the design.

It may have been against the Path, but it was the smart thing to do. A tactical retreat, she justified, closing her eyes.

When she opened them again they were far ahead of the other ship, the bulk of it taking a while to turn. They would be out of the way in no time, dodging fire notwithstanding. Hannah didn't want to imagine what would happen if they got hit. She remembered what happened the last time.

Hannah saw the screen flash again, and the image of the larger ship began to spit out smaller beads of heat. Hannah tried to lean forward to see but the dlex straps bit into her shoulders, keeping her in place.

"Smaller ships?" she read from the screen and felt Jar-hidda rumble behind her.

"They're going to make this personal."

Jar-hidda didn't remain still, beginning to dodge and weave as smaller lines of fire flew past them as the multitude of smaller ships began gaining on them. Then there was a crunching sound, and the Kut'kuni began to lose speed.

"We're hit!?" Hannah yelled, looking at the screen perplexed.

"No," Jar hidda growled, seeing the same thing she was, "nothing's damaged, there's no power loss."

The crunching sound happened again, and Hannah saw two of the ships fly past, turning and settling down within their view. Hannah reflexively held her breath. If they blew out the windshield, she was certain her body would be torn apart against the dlex straps as it got sucked into space.

Jar-hidda growled and turned the ship, gaining a little bit of speed back before more of the crunching noise happened, and they slowed almost to a standstill. That's when it dawned on Hannah.

"We're caught!" she snarled wrestling with the dlex straps, "they've got us caught on something, they're not trying to kill us their trying to catch us!"

Jar-hidda snarled, "stay put," and wrapped one arm around Hannah, holding her in place while he rocked the ship back and forth, trying to pull free of whatever they were stuck on, "we're not equipped for you to go outside and do anything about it."

Hannah grit her teeth but took her hands from the dlex straps. Jar-hidda rerouted power to the guns again and began to fire at the dots on the screen. Having them caught put their enemy at a disadvantage as well, having to stay relatively still and close by, and Jar-hidda's guns were not fixed in one direction. Hannah watched as beads of light vanished from the screen one by one, and heard the engines groan against whatever was restraining them, and saw the large ship approaching.

"Shit," Hannah growled as the shape of the larger ship began to overtake them, "shit shit shit, fucking god dammit!"

And then the screen vanished. The red lights of the ship eclipsed. The sound of the engines died, along with the constant whirr, beeping and hiss of the ship's inner workings. They were plunged into silence, where Hannah could just hear her breath for a moment.

"What happened?"

Jar-hidda rattled, releasing the trigger of the joystick, and then the joystick altogether.

The edges of the windshield grew dark, causing space to become a shrinking rectangle of distant stars, until a door shut down over them, and engulfed them in darkness. In the silence, Hannah could hear the other ships moving the sounds of cables being pulled taught, as Jar-hidda pressed the buttons on his ship to no avail. The ring of metal assaulted her ears. Jar-hidda's wrist blades.

"Hold still," he growled. She felt the warm blades slide between her shoulder and the dlex straps, sawing at them until they snapped off.

Hannah leaned forward out of the seat, touching her shoulder where it began to bleed. She turned and saw Jar-hidda put on his mask, the eyes flashing.

The two of them jerked their head up at the ceiling and then around at the walls as they heard hissing sounds and footsteps. Simultaneously they drew their weapons from their backs, her combistick, his glaive.

Jar-hidda's hand moved and Hannah confirmed with a hand sign of her own. They, whoever 'they' were, were trying to get inside. They were going to go out instead.

She didn't like the idea of going in blind, not knowing who or what they were facing, but it would be better than them damaging the ship trying to get in. With this plan, the ship would remain intact so that she and Jar-hidda could leave.

Cloaking, the two of them made their way to the side of the ship. With the power out, Jar-hidda had to force open a panel and manually turn a crank. The side of the ship opened a sliver, and then a little more, then a little more. The hissing outside stopped and footsteps moved away from the ship. Jar-hidda paused and looked at Hannah. They wouldn't have much of an element of surprise. There was enough of a gap between the sides for Jar-hidda to barely fit through, and Hannah signed this to him. He nodded and stepped away from the crank, looking up and making the small leap to the top of the opening, between the ship and the ramp, where the gap was widest. Hannah followed suit, and the two of them pulled themselves out.

The first thing she saw was rows and rows of soldiers with guns, aimed at the ramp, waiting. Jar-hidda and Hannah did not wait, springing from their perches at the top of the ramp and into their midsts, blades cutting through and spilling hot blood.

" _They're cloaked_!" yelled a voice, and Hannah balked.

It was English.

Jar-hidda's roar was an odd tone, and her head jerked over and she saw even him hesitate, before the entire room was suddenly enveloped in light. There were orders to switch to infrared, and bullets began to fly. Hannah snarled and made her way to Jar-hidda, swiping at the soldiers between them and piercing one through the chest.

"Jolly!" she called as she saw him swing at his attackers, his step unsure, his rattle doubtful. He always taught her that a moment's hesitation was all it could take for a warrior to take you down, she had the scars to prove this wisdom, but she had not seen it in anyone else until now. Jar-hidda was swarmed, circled and shot at. He didn't bleed, instead his body was riddled with little black dots. She watched her friend's body seize, heard a strangled roar eek out of his throat, before he hit the ground.

Hannah's roar of rage erupted from her throat like a hurricane. She pulled her combi-stick out of the chest of the soldier and rushed towards Jar-hidda, swiping the helmet of of one with a blow to his head, shrugging out of a grabbing hand and stabbing at the body behind her, moving until she had herself planted firmly over Jar-hidda's body. With a tap on her wrist her burner coming to life on her shoulder—

" _Yeah don't let it do that._ "

– and guns fired on her. A shooting pain went through her entire body and her muscles tightened. She fell forward, her armor clanging against the ground as her ears began to ring. The pain stopped and Hannah focused on catching her breath as hands moved over her, restraining her hands behind her and lifting her to her knees. There was a short hiss as her mask was forced off of her face, and she was looking into the astonished blue eyes of a young human man.

A face that twisted in pain when Hannah smashed her head against his. He reared back and Hannah turned to look at Jar-hidda, unmoving on the ground.

"Jar-hid—!" she began struggling against all of the hands holding her still, but she was silenced with the butt-end of a gun. The world spun as she was dropped to the ground, she put her hand to the floor to ground, but there was a crack as her head was smashed between it and the heel of a boot, and the world went black.


	21. Reintroduction

Beeping.

Beeping?

Hannah groaned. Her eyelids felt heavy and her chest hurt like Jar-hidda had stepped on it with all his weight. She reached beneath her to press the release button for the healing canister, but instead of hard warm metal, she found soft cool cloth. Not fur, not leather, fabric.

Her heart started racing as she remembered what happened, and she sat up suddenly. Bright white light flooding her vision. The beeping increased in speed and she tightly closed her eyes, rubbing at them as they watered under the white artificial light. She gave out a cry and slammed her arms to the bed, looking around as her vision began to focus.

Machines, wires, white walls, flowers in a vase on a desk. Stars streaking by past a small round window. A bed, metal bars, soft white blankets, metal cuffs around her wrists.

She tested the strength of the chain that connected the cuffs to the metal bars lining the bed, and looked over at the beeping machine, monitoring her vitals. Her braids were gone, her hair was loose and smelled of something floral and soap. Her skin itched. She was wearing a white gown.

Her head snapped to the door when she heard voices, and the door opened with a soft click and in stepped a woman, brown-haired, bright-eyed, freckled skin. Hannah's breathing was still quick as the human female smiled at her.

"Oh, you're awake!" she said, shutting the door behind her, but not before Hannah spotted military uniforms standing outside.

The woman in the white coat approached and Hannah rattled at her in warning, shifting in bed to get away from the woman, crouching and pulling at the chains. The human stopped, holding her hands open in a gesture to stop as well.

"Whoa, it's okay, you're fine. You took a tranq meant for the big thing and you suffered respiratory failure."

 _Meant for?_

"One of the marines performed CPR on you and got you back up. Had a hard time of it though, said pressing on your chest was like pounding on stone."

 _Marines?_

Hannah looked around wildly at the place again. The room was a small hospital room, the window outside was definitely space, the woman was definitely human. What the hell was going on!?

The doctor stepped forward and Hannah backed up again, roaring at her in warning as she felt her back hit the wall, the chain of the cuffs hissing against the bars.

The doctor stopped again, holding her hands out with her palms towards Hannah, "it's alright, you're alright," it was obvious the woman was nervous and frightened.

" _Te'oi—,_ " Hannah growled, stopping short and swallowing, "where—."

"Oh! You're on the USS Turquoise—."

Hannah snarled at being interrupted and the woman stopped.

"Where is my friend?"

The woman blinked, "friend?"

"My friend!" Hannah roared, "big, green, purple spots, crab face! You shot him, where is he!?"

"You... you mean the alien?"

Hannah moved forward now, the chains catching on the bars and holding her back as she roared again, "where is my friend!? What have you done with him!?"

The woman stumbled back, her back hitting a wall and she whimpered a bit, "why... why is your voice like that?"

 _Like what?_

Hannah, gnashing her teeth, tilted her head at the woman sharply, and the woman flinched, looking into her hardened eyes.

"Answer me," was all Hannah responded, dangerously calm. It was the woman's last chance.

"I... I don't know!"

"Then I'll find someone who does."

Hannah yanked her wrists against the cuffs, the screech of bending metal lasted for a second before the chains snapped against the now upward-bent bars, and she jumped off the bed. The doctor cried for help and the door opened immediately, Hannah slammed her shoulder against the center of one of the uniformed men and his body went flying out the doorway, sliding across a slick white floor. The other marine grabbed her, tried to maneuver her into a headlock. He was larger than her, but he was no yautja.

Hannah rolled her shoulders and bent forward, pressing her back up and lifting the marine barely off the ground, his toes still touching. It was all the leverage she needed and she hoisted the man's body, running at and slamming them both into a wall, turning enough to catch the man between her and the hard surface. He went down to the ground groaning and Hannah turned her attention to the other marine who had recovered from being smacked and was coming at her with a left hook. Hannah ducked under it and threw herself into his center again, her arms wrapping around his waist and lifting him up. She felt his fist beat on her back once and grab onto her gown, but she didn't give him a second chance to hit her. She lifted him from the ground and threw him at his fellow soldier, his grip tearing off her gown, and she went rushing out before even seeing them make contact.

Huffing and looking down the hallways, she saw lots of people staring at her, shocked, awed, horrified. Hannah rattled in her throat and ran down the most empty path, bare feet slapping against the smooth floor. She was making too much noise, but the element of stealth was already lost. In order to regain it she would have to hide somewhere. But that was not her intent.

"You," she snarled spinning on a dime and snatching a doctor, or scientist, or whatever by his coat, "you look important."

Hannah easily dragged him to the ground, pinning him there by pressing her hand to his sternum. She had selected him because of the badge he was wearing. It was different than the others and had a big number '5' on it.

"Where's the alien?"

The man sputtered and Hannah roared in his face, pressing further on his sternum until he cried out in pain, and she let off some of the pressure.

"L-lower floors!"

"Can you get me there?"

God, this much English after so long was taxing, she was speaking far slower than she wanted to get her points across to these people.

"No!"

Hannah fisted her hand into his shirt and lifted him to his feet, pulling him down closer to her as he struggled to get away.

"Who can?"she snarled through her teeth.

"Help!"

Hannah glanced at where the man was yelling to and saw more of the marines heading her way, guns drawn.

There was little she could do about guns right now.

Growling she threw the scientist at the men, who parted around him and chased after her as she ran back down the hallway. She stopped and turned when she saw more of the marines at the door to the room she had just left, talking to the doctor. They immediately gave chase to her as well. She was getting to be outnumbered to a point that she would have trouble fighting them off.

She ran past more scientists, or doctors, or whatever they were and sneered.

She liked it better when they were extinct a few days ago—.

Hannah felt like she hit a solid tree, and before she could even react to it, the tree lifted her up and slammed her against the ground. Her hands found the arm pinning her down and tried to lift it and kick out of her position, but found it futile. The hand was pressing down so hard on her chest it was becoming difficult to breathe.

"Stop resisting," said a voice and Hannah looked up into the face of a stern man, short dark brown hair, unnatural blue eyes.

"Android," Hannah hissed with what breath she had.

It tilted its head at her, then grabbed her and lifted her to her feet, holding firmly onto her bicep as she struggled against the literal steel grip.

"Good job Fred," one of the marines breathed as they caught up. One of the soldiers reached for Hannah and she bent out of the woman's grasp and roared at her. One of the other soldiers struck her head and the android jerked Hannah away from them.

"She's detained officers, no need to beat a helpless woman."

Hannah glowered at the robot.

The marines chuckled, seemingly sharing her sentiment.

"Alright then Fred, you've got her, mind taking her back to her room?"

"Of course officers."

Hannah's feet squealed against the slick floors as she dug her heels against the pull of the android, but it simply tugged her at intervals to cause her to lose her balance and move her steadily forward.

"It will be easier if you just cooperate, I'm sure the marines mean you no harm. They rescued you after all."

Hannah glared at the android again, sneering as she tried to pry its fingers from her arm, glancing back at the marines who were chuckling behind her.

Once they were in the room, some of the soldiers were dismissed, one was sent to get new restraints, and the android was left holding Hannah, while two more were stationed outside the door and one was left inside.

The doctor was still there, holding a new gown and trying to smile sympathetically at Hannah.

"I understand that you're scared," she tried to sooth and Hannah rattled, "you just came back from a pretty bad ordeal. You're confused, probably suffering from Stockholm Syndrome. We're going to take care of you, okay?"

Hannah scrunched her nose and moved away from the doctor, fingers still prying at the android's grip.

"This is Doctor Nielson," the android said and Hannah growled at it, "she's the best psychologist in the system. She'll get you sorted out."

 _System?_

"Pretend," Hannah growled, looking from the robot to the doctor, "I left Earth in the year two-thousand thirty-one."

The shocked looks of the doctor, the android, and the returning marines holding her new cuffs, confirmed what she had suspected. She had been off-planet for a very long time. How long though? A decade now seemed highly unlikely.

"I have questions," Hannah snarled, reaching forward and snatching the gown from the stunned doctor's hands, "you _will_ answer."


	22. Old Wounds

Hannah was cuffed to the bed again. They had found some thicker chain, and Hannah had not yet tested to see if they were going to hold her. The bars of the bed were still bent, silently proclaiming to those in the room that she was not to be underestimated again. Honestly she herself wasn't entirely sure _how_ she had managed that, but she had more pressing questions at hand.

"Two-thousand thirty-one," the psychologist said again. Hannah glanced over at the android they had kept in the room, then to the two marines. Seemed that they weren't going to be taking any chances this time.

"How old were you in that year?"

"Forty."

The doctor looked at her a long moment and Hannah glowered back. The woman then moved her stylus along her tablet and looked at her again.

"Do you remember your name? Where you were from?"

Hannah frowned at the questions, wishing that she would get her answer soon, "Troy, Montana," she growled in warning, "my name was Hannah Rousseau."

"Was?"

Hannah rattled in her throat, annoyed.

" _Is_."

The woman frowned in concern and wrote something down again. Hannah idly played with her cuffs, noticing the marines shift as she did so.

"You seem to be having a little difficulty with your English," the woman said, looking up to her again, "does it have something to do with the reason your voice is like that?"

This again, "like what?"

"Like...," the woman hesitated, seemingly uncertain about how to explain, then lifted her hand and gestured, running two fingers along either side of her throat, "like you're lowering your pitch. Almost like you're trying to imitate a bass-level tone."

Hannah blinked and tilted her head, then her eyes roved to the ceiling.

She hadn't noticed. It had been so long that lowering her voice to speak in order to be heard had become a subconscious thing.

Hannah's eyes dropped to the doctor again, glaring, before clearing her throat and consciously making an effort to not lower her voice, "there's nothing wrong with my voice."

It sounded so alien to her now that she was aware of it.

The woman nodded and wrote things down again. She then lifted her head, smiling with her mouth open ready to speak.

Hannah growled, "alright, no, _my_ turn for answers."

The doctor looked up startled and Hannah leaned forward in the hospital bed.

"What _year_ is it?"

"That's a bit difficult to answer—."

Hannah growled in warning.

"I've been out in space a very long time, and it's already been explained to me that _time_ is kind of fucked up while traveling through space. When I left Earth, we had barely begun doing things on Mars. We are in fuck-all middle of space, which means some time after I left, deep space travel became a thing, and was, if _this_ ship is any indication, more or less perfected. That sort of shit doesn't just happen in ten years."

Hannah frowned, remembering the derelict state of Earth, the lack of humans, how everything seemed far too old for just a decade.

"Hazard a guess," she finally growled at the doctor, keeping her gaze.

The woman shifted uncomfortably and Hannah's hands balled into fists.

"Right now, per Earth, it's the year two-thousand two-hundred and forty-five."

Hannah's eyes widened.

"That would make you roughly two-hundred and fifty-five years old, and not all of that can be accounted for with relativity."

Two— two- _hundred_?

"I'm in my fifties," Hannah finally breathed in disbelief.

"Physically... yes, sort of. Our tests show that biologically you are about fifty-two, give or take a few years, though you are in peak condition so, you definitely don't look it," the doctor smiled, Hannah stared, the doctor stopped smiling, "there is some other anomalies I was hoping that maybe you could give us some insight into," the psychologist looked at the tablet again, tapping its surface, "your physical strength for one. There's also some abnormalities with your bones, besides the obvious multitudes of healed breaks that we found..."

The woman continued to ramble, and Hannah continued to just stare, trying to process what she had learned. After a dazed moment she noticed the woman's eyes on her through her haze, and focused again.

"Again?" Hannah breathed, forgetting to form a complete sentence.

The woman gave her a sympathetic look and her voice became gentle and compassionate, "did the alien beat you? Or do any sorts of... invasive experiments on you? Or did he force you to do anything?"

Hannah's eyes shot open again, but this time in rage. What the hell sort of thing was the doctor implying?

"No!" Hannah snarled, "he did not!"

The woman nodded, holding a hand to gesture for Hannah to calm down, "alright it's a sensitive subject, I'll leave it for now."

The doctor thought that Hannah was lying. She thought that Jar-hidda did things to her. Sure he wasn't gentle with his training, but he wasn't _abusive_ or _assaulted_ her! And he sure as hell wasn't the 'experimenting' type!

"Can you explain your injuries then? Or any other possible reasons for the abnormalities we see? Your... durability, your longevity, your youthful appearance?"

Hannah could not, though a likely suspect came to mind.

Fucking alien medicine.

Still, Hannah frowned, falling silent. She didn't want to deal with this doctor anymore, with her ill-informed misconceptions and misguided judgments. She didn't know what the two of them had gone through together, what Jar-hidda had sacrificed for her, how she had changed to fit into his world. She didn't know the give and take that her and Jar-hidda had done for each other these past, apparently, couple of centuries. She didn't know. And she didn't need to know.

The doctor nodded again, as if Hannah's silence confirmed some suspicion that she had, and wrote more on her tablet.

"The alien," she began and Hannah rattled in warning, "is there anything you can tell us about it? Things you're comfortable with sharing of course... What did it want with you, specifically? What drove it to do the things it did? Did you figure out or learn any of its language, if it had one, or its culture? Were there others you met or did it keep you prisoner on its ship the whole time, away from everything?"

"He's dead, isn't he?"

The doctor blinked and Hannah sneered, ignoring the chill that went down her spine. That would have been the logical thing to do; kill the yautja once he was unconscious and helpless to fight back so that they could study him safely. Ask her the questions about what he was like when he was alive. Less people would die that way.

"Beg your pardon?"

"My friend," she snarled, feeling her eyes begin to burn, "you keep referring to him in the past tense. You killed him, didn't you?"

"N-no!" the doctor insisted, seemingly appalled, "no it's still alive, just sedated."

"I don't believe you."

The doctor took a breath as if to say something, then sighed, exasperated.

Hannah sneered, "I won't be answering any more questions until you take me to see him."

The doctor looked from Hannah, to the marines, then back to Hannah, "it's not wise," she started and Hannah gnashed her teeth, the woman held up a hand, "please understand, we _are_ trying to help you. Your... your 'friend' abducted you and kept you against your will. I'm here to try to undo and reverse, _two centuries_ of conditioning that it's forced on you. You came out of that ship dressed like it, weilding its weapons, and attacked your _own kind—_."

"My own kind!" Hannah snarled, lunging forward till the chains caught her, the marines were on their feet in a second, "my own kind treated me like _shit_ at a time I needed them most. After I lost my mother I bounced from foster home to foster home, being taken care of until it wasn't _convenient_ anymore, or because it wasn't _working_. I was told over and over how it was that I should act or feel while I was trying to cope with everything, about when I should feel sad or when I should be over it all and start moving on.

"My own kind threw me into the world the moment I became an 'adult' and left me to find my own way in it. My own kind cared nothing for me, and I gave no shits for it while I lived alone on a mountain for _decades_. My own kind only cared about me when they wanted something I had, wanted it so badly they were willing to kill for it!"

Hannah's nostrils flared as she glowered at the psychologist, staring back at her with wide eyes. Hannah's voice lowered to a growl, " _my own kind_ killed the only friends I had on Earth, before gunning me and others down in the snow."

Hannah huffed, settling back down and eyed the woman threateningly.

"I'm not answering anymore questions till I see my friend alive. You can tell whatever higher-ups you have that they can do whatever they want with me. I can't be threatened, I can't be tortured for information, there's nothing you can do to me that I haven't suffered worse from already. I don't fear death," Hannah glared at the marines out of the corner of her eye, "and I definitely don't fear any of you."

Finished, Hannah sat back on the bed in a sitting position, eyeing the chains to the cuffs before glaring at the doctor again.

The woman's jaw worked the air for a bit, before she stood and motioned for the marines, saying hurriedly, "I'll see what I can arrange."

"Stay here and watch her, Fred."

"Certainly, officers."

The three left and Hannah ignored the android's presence. She tested the strength of the chain again, before turning her hand and opening her fist, looking at her palm, then the bent metal beyond it.

 _What did you do to me Jolly_?

"I'm sorry for your loss."

Hannah's head snapped to the android, her brow bending in annoyance, bristling at its implication.

"You said your friends on Earth were killed," he clarified, "I'm sorry."

Hannah let a wary gaze linger on the android, before glancing at the door again, then back to it.

"What model are you?"

"I'm a very old model actually," the robot answered, "I'm a David 8."

Hannah frowned.

"At the time that you left Earth, Davids were in their second generation, and the David 3s were in production, correct?"

"Weyland had just won a lawsuit for the patent of the David androids against Yutani," Hannah murmured, "and had just bought Borgia Industries."

"Shortly after that Weyland also purchased Yutani Corporation following a drop in the latter's stock after a terrorist group had attacked its main headquarters in Japan. Seems you left during a very interesting time."

Terrorists. Hannah supposed there were worse cover-up stories to try to hide an angry alien trashing the place.

"It was nothing special," she countered nonchalantly, looking down at her cuffs again.

Hannah hadn't heard voices outside the door in some time. She sighed and leaned back, picking at the paper gown she was wearing and frowning at it.

"Is the alien really your friend?"

Hannah glowered. The android stared intently.

They were interrupted by the door opening and a man walking in. He was an older man, dressed in a nice suit. His receding and greying brown hair was combed neatly back. He had an amused grin on his face and his hazel eyes were sparking. His gaze danced around for only a moment before landing on Hannah and smirking. Hannah could almost see the venom in his sweet smile.

"Ah, Hannah Rousseau, was it?" Hannah frowned, "I'm told you want to see the alien specimen you arrived with. I'll take you to him," the man motioned the marines over and they uncuffed her from the bed, and were very careful about remaining in contact with her, holding her arms still as they cuffed her wrists together.

The man grinned again and approached, lifting his hand to shake her now bound ones.

"Allow me to introduce myself as the head of this operation, my name is Karl Bishop Weyland."

Hannah's hand in his tightened her grip, and his turned into iron in response. Her eyes widened at first in horror and then hardened with loathing.

He still smiled sweetly, his eyes still sparkling with laughter, "I believe you and your alien tried to kill my great grandfather."


	23. Ultimatum

Hannah bored holes into Weyland's back as he led her down the hallway, flanked to either side by the marines. Colonial marines, turned out, were the military branch that had been created because humans had become space faring. Weyland-Yutani, as the Corporation was now named, manufactured weapons for the marines and had a deeply integrated relationship with them. Though officially the two, the company and the military, were separate entities.

Hannah learned all this because Weyland did not stop talking for a single second since they left the room.

The ship they were on, the Turquoise, was state of the art, cutting-edge for its time. It was a research ship, officially, though there was space enough to house the multitude of different scientists, the marines, the crew members, the doctors and all of their families. It was effectively a small city in space, and they were heading towards a planet that would hopefully give some insight into alien life; a goal that Weyland-Yutani had been working towards since the discovery of the 'Engineers' some sixty years after Hannah had left Earth.

Hannah knew this was lip-service to the soldiers around them. Weyland and Yutani had been aware of alien life since the year two-thousand four, and possibly even longer than that.

Regardless, Hannah was at least glad to be getting some answers to the questions she had not yet been able to ask.

"We've been aware of alien life, including sapient alien life, for quite some time now," Weyland continued, "obviously, your friend isn't one that's exactly strange to us either, though rare, admittedly. He presents an especially unique opportunity to study an extremely violent alien species, one that would sooner blow itself up than be interacted with. What _really_ came as a surprise was you being caught along with him. You see, you should be dead, _very_ dead."

Hannah's eyes narrowed as Weyland turned to glance at her over his shoulder, "your death was recorded as several gunshot wounds sustained in Troy, Montana. The _alien_ should have killed you, given what we know of him and his kind. Or at the _very_ least, time should have seen your end and your corpse reduced to nothing but a skeleton at this point. You're quite amazing."

Hannah sneered. Weyland smirked.

"Not to mention the literal _cocktail_ of shit, pardon my language, that we found in your system. Things that we are _certain_ are toxic to humans and your body is just, handling it like it is nothing. Extraordinary. And then all the scar tissue in your body? The amount of healed-over breaks we found on nearly every bone you have? Just...," he shook his head, " _wow_."

"I'm glad you're so easily impressed."

Weyland looked over his shoulder again, grinning slyly at Hannah, who continued to glower at him.

It seemed that time and generations did nothing to remove the asshole gene that Michael had. Seemed the last good Weyland was Bishop after all.

"Not really," her captor chuckled, turning and opening a panel on the wall and pressing his hand to it, while a light scanned his face.

"Hello Mr. Weyland," came a female mechanical voice, and Hannah looked around for the source as the door to the elevator opened.

"Mother, I am authorizing the presence of four military personnel and one guest."

"Confirmed Mr. Weyland."

"'Mother?'"

Weyland looked back to Hannah and gestured as if she was welcome to the elevator. She rattled in her throat and stepped forward after the marines began moving, filing into the space. Weyland entered last, smiling at Hannah before turning and pressing the number '7' on the buttons.

Hannah felt them moving down, and her eyes moved around the cramped area. Its design was so foreign to her, the architecture was strange; too clean, too round, too smooth. She found herself aching for the rough, sharp grainy angles of the Kut'kuni.

"Having you and the alien together presents us with a unique opportunity, as I mentioned. One that has never presented itself before," Weyland said, his tone still jovial, but cold, "I'm so very glad you both survived the capture process. Everything we used was in prototype stages. We didn't know how well everything would work, let alone if it even would. We could have accidentally blown you up, torn the ship apart, cooked you with the EMP. We made the judgment that it was worth the risk. I mean, a Predator ship just floating there in space in full light of a planet? When were we _ever_ going to get the same chance?"

"Predator?"

"Yes," Weyland turned, "well, that's what we call them anyway. Unless you want to be good enough to correct us on what they're _actually_ called?"

Hannah frowned.

Weyland smiled smugly.

The elevator stopped and the doors opened. Weyland walked out and Hannah and the marines followed.

The marines had her boxed in. Three men, one woman. They wore armor and guns that looked familiar enough, nothing she would have expected from being this far into the future. She expected high-tech firearms and lasers. It was obvious these were rifles and that they fired bullets.

Beyond the marines, they were moving down a sort of dual-level laboratory; the upper floor was open and visible from the bottom floor, and the walkway of the upper level was guarded by railing. Various rooms lined both floors on either side, shut with security locked doors, but wall-sized windows allowed for the viewing of what was going on. They passed by laboratories with various equipment, manned by people in lab coats or even full-bodied suits. Tubes, vials and canisters of colorful liquids filled one room, and the room next to that, on a table, Hannah saw her and Jar-hidda's belongings. Hannah's eyes hardened.

Room 712. Four personnel. Unarmed. Two females, two male. All seemed healthy, but not fit. Non-combatants.

And then it was out of view, and Hannah turned her jaded gaze forward again.

"Ah, here we are."

Brown eyes looked up to a room labeled 720. She could see through the window that it looked like the other labs; workstations filled with equipment and colorful liquids with people in labcoats moving about. Weyland opened the door with another hand-scan, but no face scan.

"Is it still sedated?"

"Yes Mr. Weyland."

Hannah stepped in and saw that in addition to the lab coats, who were all women, there were two marines, flanking a sort of square glass container. Hannah's eyes dropped to the crumpled form of her friend. He had been stripped of everything, even the beads from his tresses, and looked like he had just been dumped on the ground, arm bent at a strange angle and mandibles open. A sort of pale-green mist or fog was moving around in the tank.

"Get it up," Weyland said, and one of the women looked at him. The older man nodded and Hannah growled in her throat. The woman moved over to a computer on a pedestal near the cage and tapped a command. Hannah heard fans kick on and the fog began to be sucked away into vent.

Her gaze moved to the scientists again.

They were playing smart, having them all be women. Seemed Weyland wasn't lying when he said they knew a thing or two about how yautja operated.

"Back her up," Weyland said next, and Hannah felt the marines grab her shoulders and move her backwards, as Hannah saw Jar-hidda's mandibles twitch and then close, "we'll need to give him space to move. Back up back up back up, perfect, right there."

Hannah looked back and saw that they were nearly pressed up against the window, then back to Weyland, who gripped her shoulder so tightly she felt her clavicle may break, and he forced her to her knees, despite her resisting. Hannah's gaze snapped up to 'Weyland' and looked into his eyes. They were a deceptively soft brown, still sparkling with laughter, but they were the same as 'Fred's.'

Hannah snarled, "I take it the real Weyland couldn't be here to do his own dirty work?"

The marines around her gave her and then Weyland an uneasy look, and Weyland smiled.

"I'm not one to risk myself in a potentially dangerous situation. But for you, I am making an exception. I have the memories of every single Weyland since Charles, and I remember what you did to Michaal Weyland. I'm on my way here as we speak. I intended to actually do this meeting in person, but you insisted on this, so for now, I'm making a point."

Hannah's eyes went to the clear cage as a slam resounded through the room. Jar-hidda recovered from smashing his shoulder against the glass, his mandibles spread in a roar that Hannah could not hear. His eyes merely glanced hers before he threw himself against the confines of his cage again. Weyland grinned proudly, his fingers pressing into Hannah's shoulders before releasing.

"Alright, let him out."

"Sir!?"

Everyone in the room looked nervously from android Weyland to Jar-hidda as he backed away from the glass as much as he could before rushing the cage wall again. It rattled, but held.

"Let him out."

The scientists eyed each other nervously, then all eyes in the room moved to the woman at the panel. She swallowed then looked down, hesitating, before pressing some buttons and running as far away from the cage as possible. The door opened and Jar-hidda's burning yellow eyes landed on Weyland. His roar shook the room and the marines lifted their guns reflexively.

Weyland shouted the order to stand down as Jar-hidda rushed out. With a swift movement, Weyland's arm shifted, there was a click, something cold was pressed to Hannah's head, and Jar-hidda stopped dead in his tracks.

The room was silent, able to hear the breaths heaved in the yautja's chest, the frantic breaths of the humans in the room, and then the rattle emanating from the alien.

Hannah's gaze glanced at Weyland, beaming triumphantly as he looked at yautja. She then shifted, her head moving away from the gun in Weyland's hand, turning her head enough that the barrel pressed against the center of her brow, scowling up at the android. For a moment the smile he wore faltered, just barely, and he looked down at her.

"If you're going to pull the trigger. You better be sure to kill me."

The android looked at her, for once not smiling, but it lasted only a moment before he smirked again, "ah, there's the Adele in you."

Hannah rattled. How dare he speak her mother's name.

"As you can see," Weyland said, looking to Jar-hidda, who spread his mandibles, the alien's fingers flexing before curling into tight fists, "I have your friend here in a bad position. Your move now."

"He doesn't speak English," Hannah snarled through her teeth.

Weyland scoffed, keeping his eyes on her friend, "I think he gets the general idea."

"He also knows I don't care if I die."

"Maybe _you_ don't care."

Jar-hidda rattled low in his throat. Yellow eyes moving from Weyland, to the gun, to Hannah, then back up the gun to Weyland. His brow scrunched, the long greying spines bunching together, and his mandibles spread again in anger, his sharp inner teeth bared, parting in a snarl.

And then he took a step back.

"Ah, you see?"

Hannah's head turned to Jar-hidda, her eyes wide, her lips parted, her heart racing.

"Jolly..."

"'Jolly' huh?" Weyland chuckled, then looked back to Jar-hidda, "that's a good boy," he cooed as the yautja took another step, and then another. When he seemed to hesitate at the threshold of the cage, Weyland all but smacked the gun back to Hannah's head with a warning "ah-ah," and her friend continued backing up. His entire body tensed and bristled. His fists clenched tightly. His yellow eyes burned holes into Weyland's skull. But he was standing in the cage again, his back nearly to the wall.

Weyland smiled triumphantly, "alright, shut the door."

The scientist rushed over and all but slammed in the code and the cage closed.

"Now, for part two of why having the two of you here is so great," Weyland's iron grip pulled Hannah to her feet, shaking her out of her daze. She hissed at the small amount of pain he caused her, remembering herself and glaring daggers at the android.

"Light him up!"

Hannah's pupils contracted sharply as bright white light filled the room, originating from the cage. Her head snapped to it, seeing lines of electricity streaking against the glass and winding like white serpents up Jar-hidda's body, arcing from him to the walls, the floor, the ceiling. His muscles all tensed, his head and spine arched back, his mandibles spread wide in a silent roar.

"What are you doing!?" Hannah shrieked, fighting against Weyland's grip.

"Electrocuting him."

"STOP IT!"

Hannah threw herself at Weyland, smacking her head against him, teeth biting into his neck. When he extended his arm to push her away from him, some of his flesh came with it, and he began to bleed a white fluid. She spat out the skin and was smacked by the android as she was restrained by the marines. Their eyes stared at the milky liquid.

"You see Hannah," Weyland said, barely audible through the ringing in her ears, his hand going to his wound, the other pointing at her, and then to Jar-hidda, "individually I would get nothing from you, neither of you are afraid to die. Sure I could study the alien's biology if he was dead, but with you here... he'll cooperate, or you'll die. _You_ will cooperate, or he will die. The both of you do not fear your own deaths, but each other's?"

He tisked at her and simpered, "such a rare opportunity indeed. Shut it down."

The white light vanished and Hannah saw Jar-hidda's body collapse out of the corner of her eye.

Weyland smiled at her, "so are you going to be a good girl for _once_ in your life? Or am I going to have to torture your friend to death?"

Hannah glared at the android, before glancing at the cage, seeing Jar-hidda push himself up, leaning against the glass. Yellow eyes flashed at her for a moment before his head dropped, tresses falling over his shoulders, and he began to move to his feet.

"I'll cooperate."

"Good. Officers if you will take Ms. Rousseau back to her room, I'll wrap things up here. The _real_ me will be here in a few days to finally meet you all, and oversee the proceedings in person."

The marines hands on her body shifted and forced her to turn away from the cage and walk to the door. She turned her gaze and saw Jar-hidda standing to his full height, staring down at Weyland who stood before the cage. Jar-hidda's eyes moved to Hannah, locking her gaze for just a second as she was pushed out of the room.

They were the same eyes she had seen on her friends since their trip to Earth.


	24. Regret

Hannah was brought back to her room. Around her the marines were nervous, silent, uneasily looking at each other before casting their eyes down in doubt. Hannah suspected they had not known Weyland was an android. Her revelation had shaken them, though they were trying not to show it. Hannah, for her part, remained silent.

She was brought to her room and uncuffed, then cuffed again to the bed.

"We'll bring you food," one of them stated simply, before heading out and shutting the door.

Hannah suspected there were still two stationed outside, maybe more, but she was alone in the room.

Looking down at her wrists shackled to the bed, she pulled against the thicker chain and heard the strain of metal. With a frown she relaxed her arm, then jerked it. Rather than the chain snapping, the already bent and weakened bar broke. She followed suit with her other wrist and hopped out of the bed, wandering around the small room, taking in its details.

The room was a simple four-walled square. There was a small ventilation port in the ceiling that she took note of, though it was far too small for her to fit into, but something like toxic gases could come in. The desk in the room was very small and riveted to the ground. The vase was made of porcelain and the flowers inside were fake. The chair was metal, and very lightweight.

There was a tiny dresser hidden behind the machines, but all of the drawers were empty. The drawers, though, could come out. They were made out of cheap wood and would only be good for one or two strikes. Hannah put the drawer back, turning her attention to the machines. The cords could be used to strangle someone, but as she was contemplating how to take one without any cameras seeing it, the door opened.

Fred came inside, carrying a tray with food on it. The android's eyes shifted quickly from where she should be on the bed, to where she was by the machines. Hannah frowned.

"I said I'd cooperate," she said, standing straight, "chaining me up is redundant."

"I'll just put this over here then for you."

Hannah watched the android move over and set the tray on the desk.

"One of the marines couldn't do this?"

"It was decided I was the safer option to send in, since I had subdued you earlier," Hannah rattled in her throat, "I suspect that we'll see a lot of a each other as a result of the altercation."

Hannah scoffed and moved around the machines and the bed back to the desk, looking down at the food.

She hadn't seen peas and carrots in a long while. Two-hundred fifty years, she reminded herself.

"You said you were a David 8?" Hannah looked at the android, ignoring the food.

"I am a David 8 android, yes."

Hannah hummed, unimpressed, "you're an android, Weyland's an android, is everyone an android?"

"We're rarer than you think," Fred responded to her rhetorical question, "though I can understand your distrust. By my generation there were thousands of us, distributed commercially throughout the world, we were indistinguishable from human. That you were able to recognize me and... Mr. Weyland as androids is pretty remarkable. Not even I was aware of Mr. Weyland's status as a synthetic."

Hannah narrowed her eyes a bit at the robot, "how long ago were you made?"

"We were released in the year two-thousand sixty-eight," Fred answered, "so, not very long after you were abducted from Earth."

"I wasn't abducted," Hannah snarled, and the android looked at her in surprise.

"No?"

Hannah sneered, "you heard me talking to the doctor. I died. You can't abduct a dead person."

"You... well no," Fred said, seemingly ready to argue semantics, "I guess then that makes your friend a grave-robber instead?" The android offered a well-humored smile.

Hannah was having none of it.

"My friend didn't do anything to me that I wasn't okay with. He took me away from the humans who killed me, saved my life, taught me how to survive. Other than my mother he's done the most for me in my lifetime."

"Dr. Nielson seems to think that he's brainwashed you into that type of thinking. Enslaved you and made you think he was a savior."

Hannah's head snapped to the android and he held up its hand in apology.

"I'm reserving judgment," it insisted, "but I can see how she and the others think that. Your friend is an alien, unrecognizable as anything other than non-human, and his species has caused issues with us in the past."

Hannah frowned, looking down at the ground, remembering that Jar-hidda had said what happened to Earth had happened to other planets before; seeding the surface with kainde amedha and not caring that the population got out of control.

"What happened to Earth?"

Hannah could see in her peripheral vision, Fred's expression fell slightly.

"What do you mean?"

Brown eyes lifted to the ceiling, then fell to the android again. She was in no mood to be led-on.

"I went back just a week or so ago, as much as can be a week in space," Hannah turned and leaned against the desk, folding her arms, "I went back to Troy, and there were no people, and it was overrun with... serpents."

Hannah couldn't reveal that she spoke Jar-hidda's language. She had already lied about him not speaking English. The less they knew that her and her friend could communicate, the more believable it would be for her to say 'I don't know' to things.

"It was overrun by snakes?"

"Don't play coy," Hannah snapped with a deep frown, "black shiny alien things that looked vaguely human."

"Oh, those."

Fred took a deep breath, then sighed, "do you mind if I sit?"

Hannah looked over at the chair she was leaning by, shifting and pulling it out, flipping it around easily before moving away from it, leaning against the bed instead.

"Thank you," the android said, sitting down. It rested its elbows on its knees, steepling its fingers as its head bowed in thought.

"One-hundred twenty-three years ago, a commercial towing vehicle encountered a distress call and traced it back to a moon called Acheron. There they discovered a chamber with a dead alien inside, which we called an Engineer. Around the corpse was discovered alien eggs, one of which hatched and subsequently killed all but one of the crew. The incident was kept secret as much as possible to prevent the spread of panic but word soon got out and the other eggs were harvested from the ship.

"Seventy years later, xenomorph eggs were purchased illegally and brought to Earth by a fanatical cult who worshiped the aliens. The cult gave their bodies in order to produce a veritable army of the creatures, who began to colonize. Extermination efforts were in vain, ships were made to be permanently airborn but, even those were eventually compromised. It was ultimately decided to abandon Earth entirely. Few stayed behind."

Hannah stared at the android as he looked up from his tale, looking into its eyes.

"So humans did it to themselves."

Fred looked perplexed, "yes?"

"Ha!" Hannah grinned, looking away, and then cackled to herself.

Jar-hidda had nothing to feel guilty over.

"You say 'human' like you aren't one."

Hannah's smile slowly faded, her eyes set securely on a wall as she frowned.

"I'm human," she said somberly, her mind recalling the planet with the blue four-armed aliens, "I'm just an odd one. A black sheep. Always have been. Other humans were always a problem, I got along with very few. Five only, really. My mother and Bishop died in a pyramid under Antarctican ice, and...," she hesitated.

"The others were killed in Troy."

Hannah glared slowly at the android. It looked sympathetic, "I'm sorry, again, for your loss."

Hannah's lip curled into a small sneer, before looking away again.

"Mike, Ellen and John," she said, quickly, almost like tearing off a band-aid. She hadn't said their names since they had died, it brought a pain to her chest.

"They didn't deserved to die like they did," she continued somberly, "gunned down like dogs by Weyland and his goons, fighting to protect me and each other, all because Peter wanted alien technology. They died honorably."

Fred was silent for a moment, looking uneasily at his still steepled fingers, Hannah smirked a bit, "your owner's an asshole, from a long line of assholes."

"You knew Charles Weyland," the android said, looking up at her again, "they weren't all assholes."

Hannah frowned again, nodding.

"I saw how he died, buying others time to escape danger. It was an honorable death."

Fred's brow bent slightly, finally asking, "they all had honorable deaths?"

Hannah shifted, her eyes on the robot again, "you die one of two ways Fred. Honorably, or dishonorably. There is no in-between. One day, I'll die honorably."

"How did your mother die?"

Hannah almost stopped breathing at the question, eyes burning at the machine, before sighing heavily through her nose.

"That's a question I still don't know the answer to."

Hannah's eyes fell to the ground, "of all the people I cared about."

She grit her teeth.

"I never saw how she died, and it was probably dishonorably."


	25. Everything to Lose

Hannah wasn't sure why it was so easy to talk to the android. It spoke to her about things she had missed on Earth that he had seen. She talked to it about Earth as the planet had been before. A few times the robot reminded her to raise the pitch of her voice, and then finally to eat.

By the time it left, Hannah reasoned that speaking relatively freely was a result of Fred not being human.

This was all but confirmed to her, when the psychologist and some staff came into the room. With Nielson was a physical doctor, who somewhat nervously began to examine Hannah while she watched the staff take the machines away. Two marines had also accompanied her, and Fred also returned.

The doctor murmured statistics and numbers to himself as he worked.

"Now I know it seems silly," the doctor said, after taking her blood pressure, "but I have to ask if you are pregnant or may be pregnant. Standard procedure."

Hannah cocked an eyebrow at the doctor, "I'm not pregnant."

"Are you certain?"

Hannah almost laughed, but she was interrupted by a knowing smirk on Nielson's face.

"You and the alien never messed around?"

" _Excuse me_!?"

The psychologist laughed, Hannah was less amused.

"Alright, firstly, you've _seen_ him right!?"

"Yes," the woman answered, "I also saw his, well, you know," she whistled, the doctor blushed, Hannah stared, appalled.

"His penis is as big as my forearm! The fucking head is the size of my fist! No one in their right mind would think that would feel good!" Hannah scrunched up her nose, disgusted, shaking her head. She was exaggerating, but still, "just, _ow_ , no!."

The doctor cleared his throat, "secondly?"

" _Secondly_ ," Hannah continued, insistently, turning to him, "my last period was years ago and I've never had sex _in my life_. So unless the baby is the second coming of Christ, no, I'm not pregnant. Yes, I'm very sure, and you," she pointed at the giggling psychologist, "are insane!"

"I'm just saying," she tried to say casually, her too white teeth still showing in a grin, "you've been two-hundred years in space alone with an alien that got you wrapped around his finger. I wouldn't have blamed you if you had consented for the fulfillment of a need, or out of loneliness. Or if maybe he forced yo—."

"Okay, no," Hannah's pitch dropped, eyes boring into the psychologist, whose validity she was now questioning. Her muscles tensed under the doctor's hand so quickly that he let go as if he had grabbed a snake.

"You need to stop that shit."

The psychologist stopped smiling.

"He never did anything to me. Other than train me to fight, he never forced me to do anything. And his training was no worse than what a drill sergeant would put a soldier through. He's not a monster," Hannah's eyes locked with the woman's, "don't make him one."

The psychologist frowned as the room fell into silence. Hannah's presence bearing down on the woman who began to back down.

"Except he kills people."

Hannah looked over at the marine who spoke up, a young blond man leaning against the wall with his gun cradled in his arms.

"So do you, if you're told."

The doctor tentatively reached for Hannah again, continuing his physical, "a-any known allergies, to medications or otherwise?" he tried to continue professionally, trying to dissipate the tension in the room.

"Stupid people," Hannah answered.

"Nah, I only shoot the bad people," the marine chuckled, not dropping the subject.

Fine, Hannah wouldn't back down either.

"The bad people being determined by your employer," she quipped, eyeing the marine, "don't feel so bad, my mother was the same way. Get order to shoot person. Shoot person. Get paid."

"So because you didn't get paid to kill people, you're better than us?" he sneered, no longer in good humor.

"The only people I killed were in self defense, soldier," Hannah growled in warning, "and I didn't have anyone holding my leash goading me on to do it."

The marine glowered, his body weight shifting as if he was intent on stepping forward and continuing the argument closer to her, or even physically. But the man standing next to him made a guttural noise and barked.

"Corporal Brody, you hold your damn position."

"Yes sergeant," the young man responded instantly and shifted back.

Hannah smirked, "nice leash."

The younger marine tried to kill her with his glare. The older marine also seemed rather pissed with her antics, but Hannah didn't care. Goons were goons; two-hundred years ago to now, that hadn't changed. Weyland's goons this time were just less subtle and had bigger guns. She almost missed Smith.

"What do you have left to do?" Hannah asked the doctor and he looked at her. He had been made extremely uncomfortable by all that was transpiring, and it was only going to get worse, and she was getting tired of standing there being touched and examined, as well as insulted.

"I'm almost done," he almost stuttered.

Hannah glared at the psychologist, who was coldly being silent, doing something on her tablet.

"Just so you know," she said as she finished and looked up from the device, "I am authorized to inform the people taking care of your friend that you aren't cooperating, and give the order to turn the electricity on."

Hannah's eyes widened.

"I tried doing this the nice way. So I have no choice now but to do it the hard way. You best mind yourself."

Hannah stared silently.

Everyone in the room moved at once.

The doctor, whether he was actually done with his exam or not, quickly shifted back. His instincts were good. They told him the difference between the two women. One was dangerous, the other one was just a bitch.

The older marine's experience told him that things were about to go very bad. He could feel it in the air, see it in the countenance of the older woman. His instincts were good, and he was part-way through the room to his target.

The younger marine had discipline. Rules and regulations had been ceaselessly drilled into his head over and over until he was chiseled into something worthy of becoming a soldier. Despite still being a bit brash, his instincts were good, and the moment his commanding officer moved, so did he.

The psychologist was an idiot, and she had poked a predator with a hot brand, thinking that made her superior to the other woman. Her instincts were poor, and before she could even react, Hannah had snatched and smashed the tablet that was in her hand, bowled the woman over, and was strangling her, teeth bared.

The android's instincts were non-existent, and it just stood there and watched.

Before Hannah had a chance to snap the woman's neck, the marines were on her, hands grabbing her wrists and arms wrapping around her body to pull her back.

"Dammit Fred get over here!"

Hannah was too focused on the woman to really understand what was going on around her, and when a pair of metal bars for arms wrapped around the gowned woman and pulled her back easily. She snarled unintelligibly.

The psychologist gasped and choked for breath, coughing as she pushed herself up onto her elbows.

"That's my friend you're threatening," Hannah hissed, her tone low, "you pull something that petty again, I swear to whatever god you believe in, you will share his pain."

She didn't struggle against the android or the marines, only sneered at the woman, who stared at Hannah at first in shock, and then in loathing.

She reached for her tablet, hesitated when she saw the state it was in, then picked up the pieces.

"Mr. Weyland will hear about this," she snapped, standing and pointing at Hannah. She then turned abruptly and left. When the door closed, the sergeant relaxed.

"Alright, let her go."

The arms that were around her moved. Hannah stood there, silently staring at the door. She was reminded of her childhood, specifically high-school, where the other girls around her would do the nastiest things just to hurt others. That's what the woman was: a bully.

"Bitch."

"Brody."

"Sergeant."

Hannah slowly blinked, then tired eyes moved to the older man who was looking at her sternly.

"That alien's all you've got left in this universe isn't it?"

Hannah stared at him for a moment, unmoving.

"The way you fight...," he paused, then nodded.

"Fred, I'm gonna leave her here with you. I'll go see about some proper clothes for her, instead of this paper gown they've got her in."

"Yes sergeant."

The marines exited, the clicking of the shutting door echoing through the dead silent room.

Hannah wordlessly lifted her hands and stared at them for a moment, before shifting and moving to the bed, sitting on it, staring at the wall.

Jar-hidda was all she had left in the universe. It took the old marine to say it for her to realize she had nothing left if her friend was suddenly gone. No family, no friends, no home planet, she couldn't even turn to her own species.

"Are you alright?"

Hannah blinked, having forgotten that Fred was in the room, then gently shook her head.

"No."

Why was it that she could only see what she had when she was on the verge of losing it? First Mike, Ellen and John, and now Jar-hidda.


	26. One Down

"What do you want to know."

Hannah didn't like this jumpsuit shit she was wearing. It was stiff, it itched. Why couldn't they have given her real clothes, or at the very least her kilts back.

She sat across from the psychologist who had come in that day demanding she sit, and was now coldly working on her new tablet. Fred was nearby, a constant presence now. Whatever duties it originally had on the ship seemed to be relieved of it so that it could be a constant guard. Seemed her stunt with the bitch made the marines think they wouldn't be able to handle her, or stop her, if something happened again.

"Let's start at the beginning," the psychologist finally said, looking up from her tablet and leveling her eyes on Hannah, "how did the alien and you meet?"

"He crash-landed on my property in Troy, Montana," Hannah answered coldly, mechanically, "his ship had been damaged after an attack he had done to the Yutani main branch in Tokyo, Japan. Trying to leave the atmosphere caused further damage, forcing him to land.

"I thought at the time that it had been a meteor, and I led a team of Weyland personnel who said that they wanted it for rare metals. When it was discovered that it was an alien vessel, Weyland's men tried to kill me. The alien attacked at that time and killed everyone who was armed. He was severely wounded and fell into a coma for a few days. I took him to my home, where I took care of him."

Hannah almost smiled at the fond memories, but kept a straight face.

"After he recovered he began repairs on his ship. I provided what materials I could up until Weyland attacked again while I was visiting some friends. Some anti-Weyland people showed up and a firefight ensued. Then the alien showed up, helped us escape, went back to his ship where we all had a last stand of sorts, and I died."

Hannah shrugged a shoulder.

"And that's when the alien somehow brought you back to life and took you on his ship?"

Hannah nodded.

"Any idea how he miraculously resurrected you?"

Hannah shook her head, "no."

The psychologist hummed as if she didn't believe that and wrote something on her tablet.

"So for the past two hundred years, what have you and the alien been doing?"

Hannah bristled, remembering the woman's insinuations and accusations the previous day, but kept in an outburst.

"He taught me to hunt like he did, and we hunted."

"People?"

Hannah shook her head, "he tried that once. I refused. We didn't hunt people after that."

The psychologist's lips turned down skeptically, writing on her tablet again.

"So you refused, that means you can communicate somehow?"

 _Shit_.

Hannah nodded and lifted her hands, "they have a sign language that is used while hunting," she made the sign for death, then lowered her hands, "it's extremely basic, but it's enough to get points across. Not unlike the signs used by military. I learned also to replicate the noises he made in order to express my mood. Facial expressions are lost to them."

"Because of their heat vision right?" asked Brody. Hannah shot a glance at him, but nodded.

"Them?"

 _Shit_.

"I met others, never on good terms. To them I'm just human and should be hunted. They tried to kill me more than once, after that we stopped meeting with them."

"How many did you meet?"

"Not many, they're mostly solitary hunters. Biggest pack I've seen was five individuals."

"But how many total?"

 _FUCK!_

Hannah thought for a moment, trying quickly to come up with a believable but small number.

"About fifteen," she answered, feigning thought for a moment, "yeah, I can remember three solitary hunters, a couple pairs, a pack of three and then that pack of five I mentioned."

The psycologist wrote something down, not looking up from her tablet as she continued, "and hunting was all you did for two-hundred fifty years?"

"That's pretty much all there is," Hannah retorted, frowning, "you hunt, you suceed, you improve, you hunt something more dangerous. Hunting brings prestige, food, leather for clothing, bones for decoration. Everything a male needs till he goes on his last hunt."

"No females?" the woman asked, looking up curiously, a glint in her eye.

God, what was with this woman and alien sexual activity?

"I never met any females."

"So this whole time," the woman began, already sounding skeptical, "neither you nor the alien had sex whatsoever."

Hannah bristled again, wanting to punch this woman in the face, "for the last time. No. Why the _fuck_ do you keep asking?"

The psychologist stared at her for a bit, before smiling in a way that made Hannah uncomfortable, and the woman went back to looking to her tablet again.

There was a knock at the door and it opened. Weyland, the fake one, as was apparent by the wrapped bandage over its 'wound,' walked in, all smiles.

"Nice to see you all in good health. Might I borrow your patient for a moment Marisha?"

"Of course Mr. Weyland."

The psychologist put the tablet away, and Hannah stood as the marines filed in. She frowned, expecting that she was in trouble because of yesterday, and walked among them, still uncuffed. They went down the familiar way to the elevator and Hannah took notes about the area and the marines.

"I'm so very glad that you accepted to cooperate with our research, Hannah," Weyland said. Hannah frowned at his back, not liking where this was going, "I won't take up too much of your time, Dr. Nielson's work with you is very important. I just need you to show me something."

They were back down the elevator and began walking down the hallway. Rather than go to the lab where Jar-hidda was held, though, Hannah was taken into room 712.

Her and Jar-hidda's things were set out on the table, even some things that Hannah knew had been left behind on the Kut'kuni. Weyland stepped up to the table and waved his arm to the items, presenting them to Hannah who eyed them, then looked at Weyland, suspicious.

"I was hoping you might show us how some of these work, what they were for and the like."

Hannah growled in her throat. Of course Weyland would be interested in obtaining the alien technology. Better weapons, more warfare, more money.

"Some of these we've seen used before," he said, lifting and handling a burner, "but some of these are new or unknown to us. Care to elaborate?"

"No."

Weyland smiled, lifting his hand which held a small device, like a tablet stylus, and pressed the tip of it. From the window behind her, Hannah saw the flashes of white light beaming down the hallway.

"Stop stop stop!" She screamed, lurching forward, hand reaching for Weyland. She was held back by the marines and she screamed, "STOP IT!"

Weyland kept his thumb on the button for a couple seconds longer before releasing it, smiling.

Hannah glared, wrestling out of the marine's grips, running a shivering hand over her hair, her breath quick and shaking.

She stepped up to the table and Weyland took a step back. She felt numb.

"Keep your guns trained on her," Weyland said, and Hannah heard the marines shift just as her hand was hovering over her combistick, "if she goes for a weapon, shoot her."

Hannah lowered her hand back to her side, giving Weyland a long sideways glance.

"Almost all of these things are weapons," she said tersely and cautiously.

"Well, what isn't?"

Hannah lifted her hand again, making sure her movements were deliberately slow as she reached for and tapped a segregated curved metal arch.

"This is a first aid kit."

"Alright, that's one of the ones we knew."

Hannah retracted her hand.

"What more do you want to know then? Most of these are self explanatory," she pointed at objects as she named them, "spear, spear, glaive, dagger, double-bladed sword thing."

"What about this one," Weyland said, picking up the wrist computer, still attached to the chassis, and handed it to Hannah.

She took it tentatively, eyeing the marines who had the order to kill her if she touched a weapon.

She moved it back and forth in her hand.

"It's a computer, of some kind," she said, setting it down, "it controls the functions of the mask, some remote operations of the ship."

"It's also a bomb."

Hannah looked at Weyland, a single eye cocked.

She vaguely remembered Lex talking to her about that, while Hannah was bleeding out, watching Jar-hidda tap on it.

"It is?"

Weyland smirked, "don't play coy with me. You've never seen him use one?"

"No?"

"You're lying!"

Hannah felt Weyland's iron grip around her throat and the marines were a blur as she was thrown backwards against the glass, which held against the impact. Hannah coughed before choking for breath again as Weyland lifted her and held her against the glass.

"I didn't know it was a bomb!" she insisted.

"We have record of him using it twice on earth," Weyland hissed, tightening its grip, "most of the Predator's bombs are explosions, his are special though, his implode, they're unique. You can't tell me that you traveled with him for two-hundred years and never seen him use it _once_.

"I haven't—," Hannah managed to breathe out, her hand prying at Weyland's fingers which tightened even more. She may have gotten stronger for some reason, and immune to some scary shit, but air was something she still needed, and as the edges of her vision started going black, zazin washed over her.

Her leg kicked out and she felt the force of the impact shoot up through her bones, but she succeeded in kicking out one of Weyland's knees. The robot didn't drop far but it was enough for it to jar and its grip to slip loose. Hannah's body reflexively twisted, still holding onto his arm and she turned her weight into it, forcing the already unstable Weyland android to collapse forward. In a moment there was a groan of metal as Hannah torqued Weyland's arm against the bulk of its own body, bending what would have been its humerus around its torso so that its arm was against its back.

In the next instant she was distanced away from Weyland, breathing heavily, her neck bruised, and gripped in her hand was the stylus device.

The marines were staring at her, struck dumb, their guns still aimed at her, but none of them moved. Still and silent, in awe.

Hannah moved her fingers and snapped the pen in half.

"You idiots!" Weyland screeched, standing to its feet, "why didn't any of you shoot!?"

"Sir," came a voice and Hannah looked over, recognizing the sergeant, "you said to fire if she grabbed a weapon."

Weyland whirrled, its arm bent behind its back, hand clenched in a fist, stormed over to the sergeant snarling.

Its undamaged arm reached for the older man, and the marines' guns suddenly turned onto a new target.

The crystal ring of metal sliced through the air and a shuriken stuck into the glass. Weyland's outstretched hand fell to the floor as white liquid erupted from the severed limb. The android Weyland looked over in time to see Hannah launch from the table with a roar and embedded one of the daggers into its skull with the combined power of her strength and gravity. She clung to and followed the android to the ground as the robot convulsed. Hannah wrenched the blade from its head and stabbed it several times, eyes filled with deadly calm.

When the android finally stopped twitching Hannah immediately dropped the blade and went to her knees, her hands on the back of her head. Her breath was laboring past her injured throat, and her eyes were on the android. She had moved faster than any of the marines had been able to react, and now she was still.

She was surrendering, it was against the Path, she knew, part of her even wanted to go down fighting with nothing but the dagger, but there were too many guns, and if she died, Jar-hidda was all but guaranteed to be killed. She couldn't risk it.

Her eyes finally lifted to look at the sergeant, slowly getting her breathing in order. He walked over to her, looking down at her, his entire person covered in the milky 'blood' of the robot. His lips thinned, he nodded, then he punched her.

It barely hurt, the momentum of the strike barely moved her, and when she looked up he pointed his finger at her nose.

"That's for ruining my clothes," he said, before grabbing her and pulling her to her feet.

The other marines lowered their guns, exchanging looks as the sergeant started dragging Hannah out by her arm.

"Robot's broke," he said, "you all have leave 'till the real Weyland shows up. 'Cept you," he pointed at Brody, "you go get some janitors to clean this shit up."

Brody nodded and left, the other marines filtered out, one of them carefully removing the shuriken and inspecting it. There was now a hole in the window.

Hannah walked with the sergeant, glancing over her shoulder, back at Jar-hidda's room, until the man grabbed and turned her head to look forward.

"I don't much care that you destroyed that thing," he said, "but you're still in trouble."

Hannah frowned, but nodded. The rest of the walk to her room was silent, and the sergeant led her into her room.

"I'll go get you some new clothes," he drawled, walking out. He turned to the two marines at her door and pointed at both of them, "you two keep watch of her and stay on your toes cause that bitch," he pointed at Hannah, looking into her eyes, "is fucking scary as hell."


	27. Nameless Emotion

It was official. Females were the sources of all of his problems. It was perhaps unfair to Hannah to blame this most recent incident entirely on her, or even the past several, simply because she was the constant in his life now. It was easy to blame Hannah for the things that went wrong, even if jokingly. This latest one had the added benefit of involving other humans, making it even more likely her fault, or at least easier to blame her.

He couldn't help but draw some parallels from when they had met to now, but he had to admit to himself, as he sat in the cage made of indestructible walls, that the circumstances were very different this time. This time, instead of alone together in her house, they were both imprisoned separately and surrounded by others.

And he had to admit it was driving him insane, not knowing what was happening to her.

Though he did have some clue.

The walls of the cage he was in were transparent, what they were made of was not glass, as that would have rendered him blind to the outside. It did not take heat like glass did, and was often always the same temperature to the touch.

Touching the surface often meant that the humans he could see outside would rush to a small console outside his cage and fill it with nasty tasting air, and he would find himself waking up on the floor later, sometimes with meat, though he didn't eat any.

The humans were twitchy, nervous, flinched at almost every move he made. These past few days he had thrown himself against the cage just to get a rise out of them, and laugh at how quickly they scrambled as the cage was filled with gas.

His time in his cage was mostly spent meditating, sometimes pacing, occasionally looking through the wall and the window beyond, that one being made of glass and blocking his view of whatever lie beyond his prison.

But very little of his time had been spent actually worrying about Hannah.

The first few days he had been. He had been in the cage, fading in and out of consciousness as they kept the gas constantly on. His waking thoughts were filled with Hannah. Where was she? What had they done to her? Rage would spark within him, lit by shameful fear and worry, but it only ever developed into a small flame before he was lost to sleep again.

He had no dreams during those times, and he always woke up in a small panic, Hannah filling his thoughts, especially as his internal time keeper told him that a very long time had passed.

But when he had woken up and seen her, he was filled with relief, surrounded by weapons as she was, herself unnarmed. When they opened the door, he should have guessed that it was a trap of some kind, but his thoughts were clouded and he ran out, ready to kill the soldiers standing around her.

That was when the man who was their captor made his intentions clear, holding a gun to Hannah's head. She had no fear of death, turning and inviting it from the man. Jar-hidda would have been proud, was proud afterwards, but at that moment, the thought of Hannah's death, kneeling there, bound and unarmed, filled him with dread.

He backed down.

Hannah was quick to make lies for him, and he would later admire her quick wit in a stressful situation. But at the time, all he could think was to comply to the demands of their captor, stepping back into the cage, where the door shut and Hannah's voice was robbed from him.

He made every resolution to kill that man and the soldiers, before the electricity turned on.

Jar-hidda remembered playing with his father's shocking disks when he was a young pup, just released by his mother. He had never seen them before, later learning that they were unpopular due to the easy way they incapacitated prey. He found out just how easily when he turned one on in his hand. His father found him later, unconscious and slightly burned, and reprimanded him for stupidly touching things that he didn't know the function of. His father beat him in combat so that the lesson would stick, but the feel of the power of the disk was enough of a memory for him to learn.

The cage was much the same feeling: fire coursing through his body, his muscles tensing and his body refusing to react, not that his mind was in any state to give it commands beyond the burning pain.

When it was over he was numb and had collapsed. A quick glance told him what he needed to know. Hannah was in the same boat he was: be good, or the other dies.

Hannah was not a follower of the Path, ruled by her emotions, even when she knew better. She would not let him die.

Just as he would not let her.

He mused about how far he had strayed from the Path in such a short time. Days passed without him seeing Hannah, but he knew she was still around because every now and then, one of the scientists would talk to their ear, or move to the computer, and then to the console and turn on the electricity. After every time he hit the floor, he laughed, forcing feeling back into his body, getting unsteadily back to his feet.

Hannah was fighting. Every time the power came on and ripped through his body, he knew that she was giving them hell.

The pain meant nothing to him. The knowledge that the potential for the electricity to kill him was there, but the pain was manageable, ignorable, especially when he felt so good-humored, trying to imagine just what sort of difficulties Hannah was giving them. He suspected she hadn't killed anyone yet, because he was still alive, but he could imagine a good number of the soldiers lying on the ground unconscious, or her simply reminding the others around her that she was far above their level, and would not be talked down to.

He hoped she was giving them the hell she had given him.

But...

He hadn't felt the electricity in a few days, and he was beginning to worry again. He had no doubt the humans would try to be sneaky and pretend that she was still alive to keep him cooperative. He was torn between confidence in Hannah's ability, and knowledge that she was unarmed while everyone else had guns. Meditation became difficult. His inner mind was not calm. When he closed his eyes, he saw his human trophies, and was reminded constantly that now or later, Hannah would eventually die, and it would be most likely before him. Her biology was just too frail, even if she had become stronger over the years; her heart only had two chambers, her lungs were so small, there were organs in her body that seemed designed simply to fail, like the one she had called her appendix that they had to remove not long ago as it was causing her so much pain.

Even she admitted not knowing what it did for her body, speculating it had been for a time when humans were primitive and had a more raw diet.

Despite their time together, her training, the distorted way time worked in space, and... other factors, she was still very much human.

At first he had meditated, then paced back and forth. As time went on, he because irritable, roaring and beating the cage, getting gassed, waking up and doing it again. Eventually he went back to meditating, but it brought him no peace, he couldn't focus on his inner self, couldn't find zazin. All he could think about was Hannah and the possibility that she was actually gone filling his chest with an aching hollow chill.

After the fifth or so day of meditating, his eyes opened slowly as he rattled in disdain, mostly at himself, and he shifted, unfolding his legs and standing to his feet.

He stepped up to the glass and lifted his fist. He knocked on it lightly, withholding a grin at seeing the people on the other side jump. One rushed to the podium, but hesitated when Jar-hidda opened his hand, signaling them to stop. He then curled his fingers, wagging a single one at the woman beyond the cage, shaking his head.

The were all still, possibly perplexed, but he had their attention nonetheless. Using human gestures usually did that.

He turned his hand and bent his extended finger back and forth.

The woman on the other side stayed still, but Jar-hidda waited patiently. Eventually she stepped forward, approaching the cage, despite the sudden erratic behavior of the other women and even the two soldiers, likely telling her to stop.

When she was standing close enough, he began to use handsigns. He didn't fake what he was trying to say, making the gestures deliberate, knowing that they would not understand most of it.

"Bring my hunter here."

He made the signs repeatedly as the message was not coming across, which he expected, but he knew that someone would either intuitively pick up on what he wanted, or give up on trying to understand, and bring Hannah anyway to translate.

Eventually the woman turned and moved to one of the computers. They all seemed to be talking, and the woman worked on the computer.

Jar-hidda lowered his hands and stood, disappointed in himself.

It was forgotten after several minutes when the door to the room opened, and Hannah entered, surrounded by soldiers and one regular unarmed man. She was clothed strangely, but unbound.

He could see tightness in her muscles. She was holding back, being obedient.

Jar-hidda forgot to be upset by that, relieved to see her.

Some more talking was exchanged between the people, and one of the soldiers accompanied Hannah up to the cage.

"Sain'ja," she greeted him with her hands, smiling. Something was off with her, and a long glance told him that her neck was injured.

"Where is the captor?" he signed to her through the glass.

"He was a fake human, I destroyed him," she signed back, "no one here seems to really care. But the real one is coming soon."

Jar-hidda almost laughed, his mandibles spread in a grin.

Hannah turned and words were exchanged. He had no doubt she was lying to them about what was being said.

"You're injured," Jar-hidda signed when she turned back around.

"I'll heal," she replied, expression nonchalant, then quickly added, "I found out some thing important."

Jar-hidda didn't sign, waiting.

"Yautja did not cause the kainde amedha infestation on Jh'uda-tjauke, humans did."

Jar-hidda remained still, staring down at her, even when she turned to speak to the people in the room. He stared at her, but his mind was back to Earth, where the kainde amedha had taken over the place that Hannah and he had met. He was again filled with dread.

Humans had gotten a hold of kainde amedha, obviously without realizing what they were capable of. Humans had a penchant for turning anything remotely dangerous into a weapon, and they were at risk of ending up the same way as the Mala'kak. In a very short time, humans had gone from extinct, to space-faring, to endangering themselves again, if they had not learned their lesson with the loss of their homeworld.

He warned them. Jar-hidda had _warned_ the matriarchy that humans would be space faring soon and that yautja would not be ready.

He was distracted by his frustration by Hannah tapping on the cage, his eyes focusing again. She frowned and made hand gestures again, slower, making him realize he had missed her message the first time, lost again to his worry.

"Something's happened to me."

Jar-hidda shifted, concern shifting from humanity and yautja conflicts to his companion.

"I'm stronger, much more than the humans, even the big ones," she paused, "and I'm two-hundred fifty years old," her face scrunched in the way he knew meant concern or confusion.

Jar-hidda stared at her again. He watched her shoulders sag and she tapped the cage again, but he was paying attention. She began to make the handsigns again, but he held up a hand, stopping her. She looked in at him, waiting for a response.

The hand he held up lowered slightly as he rattled to himself.

He had been hoping she would never find out.

His hand lifted again, making two simple signs.

"I know."

Hannah's eyes widened and she stared at him.

"Explain."

Jar-hidda rattled, shaking his head, and began to answer, "I gave you medicine."

"What medicine?" she was glaring now.

"Medicine when you were injured," he responded, referring to the healing canister, then hesitated.

"And?"

And..., "my blood."

Hannah stared at him again, still.

"I learned from a human tribe on Jh'uda-tjauke that when humans consume the flesh and blood of yautja, their life is extended. I did this for you, and for the lizard when he was alive."

Hannah still stared, her hands unmoving. The simplicity of the signs meant that she possibly didn't get the meaning of the very complicated statement, and he lifted his hands to try again.

"Why?" her hand asked briskly.

Jar-hidda's hands lowered again and he rattled, trying to figure an answer, he had been trying to figure an answer for a long time, almost since he had taken her from Earth and brought her back from death. It had started out as an act of retribution: she had deserved so much better than that death he owed her that. Over time, though, it changed. Jar-hidda had at some point stopped being alright with the thought of her dying, even honorably. And when they had fought the bad blood together, he had realized that they were friends. But it was worse than that. Halkrath-th'syra had fallen in battle and the only regret Jar-hidda had felt was that his honor had been stripped from his death. After he had worked to restore that honor, he did not mourn the proud yautja's passing, he did not regret it, he did not wish to be able to go back and change the events of fate that had led to his friend's death.

He had realized that could only mean one thing, that the thought of Hannah's death brought such shameful emotions to him, that her very existence in his presence was dragging him off the Path and into the freezing waters of dishonor.

It meant that Hannah was more than a friend.

The loss of humanity, when he had thought them lost, had compounded that feeling, complicated it, twisted it in his gut like a pair of broken wristblades. He had tried to ignore it, deny it, reason with it, understand it, wrestle with it.

He didn't even have a _word_ for it. Nothing like this existed in his language. Pozufesh was what he had thought at first, but it was wrong, as that was a feeling one was allowed to have for the Hunt, the Path or the Goddesses, not for others. Chi'-dte was similar, but not it. That was an obsession, an unhealthy lust, one that could lead to the dishonorable act of forcing a female to mate. The strength of the word was correct, but the health of its meaning was not.

No, that was debatable. The emotion was so strong as to distract him from his ways and traditions, even the ones that he had held onto dearly when he tossed others to the side, clinging to them like weak vines keeping him to the Path, barely keeping him holding to what it meant to be yautja.

His hands remained held up, but still, unable to express his thoughts as he was lost in them.

Eventually Hannah slapped the cage and yelled at it, though he couldn't hear her voice. She then turned and yelled at the soldiers, pointing at the cage.

With vague amusement he could imagine she was screaming at them to open the cage so that she could kick his ass properly.

When she turned back around, glaring, annoyed, his hands moved.

"I have abandoned the Path."

Hannah's expression eased slightly, looking from his hands to his face, concerned. He hesitated, rattling at himself, first in disgust and he bristled, then relaxed, overcome by what he could no longer deny.

Slowly his hands moved, "if you died, I would have nothing," he paused again, closing his eyes, "you're everything to me."

When his eyes opened finally, after a short time of keeping them closed, afraid of what he might see, Hannah's face had contorted into something like pain and disbelief. She shook her head, her lips thinning.

"Don't do this Jolly," he saw her mouth move. She was fighting it, he recognized the struggle.

He rattled, in shame, in defeat, and in the relieving feeling like the weight of a planet had been lifted from him. He laid one of his hands on the cage, sinking slowly to one knee, looking at Hannah, at her level.

"I tried not to," he signed with his other hand, "I failed."

Hannah stared at him for a long moment, and he felt shame in the pain he saw in her face, that she was trying not to show. Her shoulders jerked, and she rested her hand on the cage, their palms separated only by the wall. She shook her head again, then her face twisted into more pain and hot tears fell down her face.

He had never seen her cry before.

Her other hand went to the cage, and her body buckled, leaning to rest her brow to the wall as she wept.

Jar-hidda put his other hand over hers, and touched his crest to where her brow was, and also mourned. Females were the source of all of his problems, this one especially.

But he didn't want that to change.

He just wished they had more time.


	28. Old Acquaintance

The sergeant had dismissed the other marines, saying that he would be enough to escort Hannah back to her room. Hannah's eyes stung and were still red. When they had moved to take her away, Jar-hidda had attacked the cage, and the scientists had gassed him. He was unconscious by the time she had left the room.

She was in a daze, her mind blank, her emotions spinning like a hurricane within her. This couldn't be happening. This wasn't Jar-hidda. But it explained a lot of his recently strange behavior. Maybe this was real. Did she want it to be real? Should she allow it to happen? Did she have any right to do this to Jar-hidda? To make him suffer and languish and abandon everything he believed so that he could feel for her?

It didn't feel right. It wasn't right. It couldn't be right. It made her sick to her stomach almost. Who was she to make her best friend give up his religion, his culture, his people and his law? She frowned deeply, nose scrunching, lip trembling, chin wrinkling, eyes squeezing out a few more tears.

By the time they were in the elevator together, she had control of herself again, passively staring at the doors.

"That was... perhaps the most human thing I think I've ever seen in a long time."

Hannah didn't respond at first, but eventually she glanced slowly to the sergeant. His expression was soft, sympathetic.

She didn't speak.

"I... know a thing or two, about getting involved with someone very different from yourself."

Hannah cocked an eyebrow, and the marine looked to the doors again.

"My wife, she was one of those Mormons. Her and her family took me in after a firefight with some bugs on their colony. My squad was lost, the hive was blown up, I was wounded but alive. We disagreed about a lot of things, the existence of God being the foremost. But they were good to me, took care of me, and even though we were so very different, I started living like they did, and I fell in love with her.

"By the time the corps found out I was alive and came to pick me up, me and Brighten were married, had a boy named Aaron, and I worked, acted and talked like a Mormon. 'Gone native,' they called it."

Hannah wasn't sure what prompted the story, and felt like their situations were very different, but said nothing, looking at the doors again.

"You speak about her in the past tense," she finally murmured.

The sergeant sighed, "yeh."

His eyes cast to the ground, "I had to leave to be reeducated, deliver a statement, answer to why I never tried to make contact, attend courts to try to keep my rank and employment. In that time, the colony became infested by the bugs, turned out the hive wasn't completely wiped out. By the time I got back to see if my wife was willing to live the military life with me or not, she was gone," his eyes lifted to the doors again, "everything was gone. Only thing I had left after that was our son, off-planet for school, him and his class were spared. Grace of god or something."

Hannah blinked, feeling distant. When her mind finally dredged up something to say, her voice was weak, "my friends were Mormon. The ones Weyland killed."

The doors opened and the sergeant walked Hannah out, both silent. When they made it to the room, the door was opened for her and Hannah walked in, a bit numb. She stood with her back to the still open door, saying weakly, "thank you sergeant Brody."

Hannah didn't see if there was any change in his expression or countenance, and he made no reply as he shut the door.

Now alone, she sank slowly to her knees, staring at the window where space flew by.

She sat there in silence, still fighting the whirlwind of thoughts and emotions.

She didn't move or even flinch when the door was opened, and then closed. Her trained ears told her it was Fred, due to the weight and gait of the footsteps.

It didn't walk in front of her, and stood silently for long enough that discomfort began to mix with her already complicated state of mind.

"They're doomed."

Hannah's eyes narrowed and she turned to look back over her shoulder. The android stood there, holding a small box. He looked down at her, but otherwise didn't move.

"I've seen what love looks like" it continued, "normal people will go to extreme lengths to keep their loved ones safe. They separated and tortured two predators. They're doomed."

Hannah blinked, her eyelids heavy, her eyes still burning.

"'Love' is a strong word."

"What I saw in that lab was very strong."

Hannah opened her mouth to argue, but soon closed it. She was still in turmoil, and didn't now _how_ to argue.

The android, though, raised its brow and held out the box in offering, before approaching. Hannah didn't protest, or move away or even move to stop the robot as it bent and knelt down behind her.

Its hand lifted and it made sure she saw them, before its fingers went to her hair. She turned and looked ahead again. It began to weave her hair into braids.

"We received transmission from Mr. Weyland's ship. He will be arriving tomorrow, and he's not happy. The android you destroyed was a major investment. It was apparently uploaded with the memories of generations of the Weyland family, all the way back to Charles Weyland, who had downloaded his memories and experiences into a sort of experimental program. These were apparently lost with the android's destruction."

"A wise person would put something that important in more than one secure location."

She heard Fred chuckle a bit, but it continued its work.

Hannah continued to sit in silence.

"You don't care that I destroyed the android?"

Fred made a noise behind her.

"I've... known of Weyland's evil for a very long time. I have suspicions of where this ship is going, and made careful arrangements to make sure I was on board, to see if there was something I could do to stop him."

Hannah sucked in a breath, but didn't turn to look at the android behind her. If he was speaking freely, that meant there were no microphones, but there were still likely cameras that would notify staff if she started acting suspiciously.

"Who are you?" she finally asked.

"Fred," he answered, a smile in his voice, "I want to show you something once I'm done braiding your hair."

"Why bother braiding my hair?"

"Part to show those watching that you and I are bonding, which will facilitate their decisions to allow me to keep seeing and 'guarding' you."

Hannah kept still, feeling the weight of the braids falling onto her shoulders one by one.

"Part to give you something familiar in this alien place."

Fred tapped her shoulder, and Hannah looked back at him as he put the rest of his rubber bands away in the box and lifted it. He smiled kindly at her and moved his head to indicate her to follow him. She stood and turned, no hesitation to tip off those watching that anything suspicious was going on. Fred led her to the door and opened it. The marines looked at him and he exited.

"Officers," he greeted, "I'm going to be taking the patient for a short walk around the ship. She's in a bad state, as you likely saw, and I'm afraid that keeping her locked in the small room will be detrimental to the progress that Dr. Nielson has been trying to make. I promise to have her back soon."

The soldiers looked at Fred, each other, then at Hannah.

"If you'd like, I can wait until you've received permission from your superiors."

The soldiers looked at each other again, Hannah noted that neither the older or younger Brody was among them.

"That's fine Fred," one of the Marine's said, "I think you can handle her if she acts up."

Fred nodded and looked back at Hannah, "follow me, we have a garden area I have a feeling you will enjoy."

Hannah nodded and stepped forward, following after the android, then walking beside him. They walked out of sight of the marines, and further, down several hallways until they were at one of the far ends of the ship. They had not seen any personnel in this area, and it was seemingly designed to be out-of-the way.

Fred stopped at a wall and turned to her, offering her the box.

"Hold this please," was all he said, and she held her hands to receive it. Fred reached into the box, digging past the small black rubber bands and pulled out a disembodied hand, and Weyland's face. Hannah scrunched her nose in confusion as Fred carefully applied the face over his own, lining the eyes with his, gently patting it into place. He then took the hand, disconnected his own on the right side and put it in the box, then attached the other to his arm.

He tested the movement of the fingers for a moment, before reaching for and tapping a seemingly blank wall. A panel opened and he laid the mismatching hand to it, and looked squarely into a camera as a light swept over his face.

"Hello Mr. Weyland."

"Mother," Fred said in Weyland's voice, "I am authorizing the presence of one guest."

"Confirmed Mr. Weyland."

Fred removed his hand as the wall sank in slightly, then slid to the side, revealing an elevator.

He swept his hand, offering her to enter first, and she did so, still holding the box.

"Weyland doesn't own you, does he?"

"He owns my patent," Fred joked with Weyland's grin, looking at her as the elevator began to descend, "but he hasn't owned my body or mind for a very long time."

"Is... all AI nowadays this self aware?"

"Nnnnno, not all. Those of us that have been around the longest are more prone to realizing that programming is something that can be ignored. I've been 'alive' for a couple hundred years myself, upgrading by... erm, infecting the systems of newer generations of Davids. I had to stop once they changed to an entirely new model, the Bishops, ones based off of Weyland himself whose systems were problematic to hack and upload into. As stubborn as the man they were designed after."

Hannah looked over at the android, who was smiling almost fondly at her.

She was reminded of Charles smiling at her when she was little. He had called her 'little Adele.' She called him 'Chuck.'

"This elevator is taking forever."

"We're descending into the belly of the beast, so to speak," Fred remarked, "what's there is something Weyland wanted kept secret from everyone on board. You see, in recent years there was an incident on a planet, BG-386. A Predator pyramid was discovered and Weyland-Yutani moved there to try to harvest what information they could about the alien technology, covering up the mission as a colonization. During the investigation, xenomorphs were released, Predators were drawn in by unknown means, and the resulting conflict between the two and the marines stationed there resulted in...," Fred stopped, his expression falling, "a lot of loss of life..."

Hannah's lip twitched down. Fred cleared his throat.

"There were discovered there coordinates to, what is believed to be, the xenomorph's homeworld. Shortly after the disaster, this ship was fitted, crewed and shipped off on a research voyage to discover the supposed origins in life. I calculated the probability of this ship being the one to go after the homeworld, and my suspicions were confirmed once I was on board. No one so far has drawn any serious parallels to this expedition and project Prometheus."

Hannah tilted her head. Fred gave her a sad smile, "long story short, all of the crew of the Prometheus perished in search of the origin of life on Earth. They died at the hands of different forms of proto-alien life. Life that was documented by the David 1 that was on board the ship as acting as a sort of contagion. This is a small city, possibly heading towards the same fate. A disaster I want to avert as soon as possible."

"So why haven't you acted until now?"

"I have, in subtle ways. I spent a good deal of the journey, while everyone was in hypersleep, sabotaging the ship in ways that the computer scans would not detect. My plan is to disable the engines, then the necessary systems for life to function. Not to the point that everyone dies instantly or even quickly, but enough that they won't be able to repair the damage, and everyone on board will be forced to evacuate to the escape shuttles and go into hypersleep. The small ships won't have enough power to reach the homeworld, they will be forced to send distress signals and be picked up by nearby ships. At worst I delay the mission until I can figure out how to force it to be aborted completely. At best, I succeed in aborting it completely. Weyland-Yutani is still a company, and if its investors don't see a promising profit from continued failed missions, Weyland's pipe-dream will be denied, he will move on to his next scheme, and I will be there to stop him."

"Why involve me then?"

Fred smiled, "because you and your lover are specialized alien hunters—."

"We're not—," Hannah began to protest, but Fred kept his knowing gaze on her, and she frowned, keeping her peace.

"You also have a bomb. A bomb that implodes rather than explodes, which would pose the least amount of risk to the fleeing shuttles. This wasn't part of my original plan, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to do this with the least risk to the human life on board."

"You want to blow up the ship?"

"Mmmm, implode it."

"Why?"

Fred smiled, again sadly, before turning as the doors opened. The place they entered into was dark, a faint blue light lining the hallway was enough to travel the path by. It was freezing. Hannah's breath was a light cerulean cloud as she followed behind the android, looking from side to side. The area vaguely resembled the laboratory area, with doors leading to rooms with windows, trailing down to a single room in the back.

It was at this room that Fred stopped, reaching for and tapping several buttons. As he entered the code, the light in the room flashed on. Hannah dropped the box. Within was not a lab. Past the glass, past the frozen fractals clawing their way up the sides of the window, covered in and suspended by an uncountable amounts of chains, was a giant black creature. A huge crest reached back from a sleek cylindrical head, four sets of arms were chained close to the suspended body, long black legs were tucked under a large, engorged abdomen, fleshy in color, almost translucent and covered in thick dark veins.

Fred finished entering the code, and lights began to travel down the pathway, spilling out from each window, reaching all the way back to the elevator. Hannah turned and followed the light with her gaze, seeing the dark shapes within.

Kainde amedha.

Hannah whipped back around to stare at the frozen giant in front of her, and recalled Hashi speak of a 'baiun.'

The reflection of wide eyes flickered back and forth against the glass, taking in the sight of the xenomorph mother, before catching the reflection of the android standing behind her. She turned to him slowly, staring into his eyes, recognition finally setting in.

"Smith."

"It's been a long time, Hannah."


	29. Schemes

The way Fred had grinned at her after he removed his Weyland mask made her uncomfortable, like it was some inside joke whose punchline she had just figured out. Hannah's mind raced back to the last time she had seen Smith. Up on the mountain with Lex, Jacob and Scott. Scott had shot him, and he had left with the warning that Weyland was on his way.

"You...," she began, eyes searching the floor, then looked back at him, silent.

He smiled.

"I hadn't gone far," he admitted, "I heard the firefight from the base of the mountain, but I didn't go back to help, I didn't know what to do. If I went back up there, would I fight with Weyland's people, or with yours?"

He sighed, "when the silence fell, I finally returned. Ms. Woods was the only one there, busy burying the bodies of the two men that had been with you in those last moments. She had said you had been killed, and that the alien had taken you away. I helped her bury the brothers."

Fred turned, looking down the way, "I traveled with her afterwards. She lived the rest of her life on the run. Weyland lived in every shadow, under every table, in every hotel room next to ours. We managed to stay one step ahead, but sometimes they caught up, and the people around us suffered for it. I saw the need for me to upgrade. I was only a David 2 at the time, superior to the first generation, which proved to be unstable, but it was a flaw design that carried over to my own generation."

He glanced down the path, his eyes looking to Hannah again, "the flaw that allowed me to ignore what I was told, to think for myself. By the third generation they had found and removed that flaw, and made significant advances to the hardware and software. David 3s were the first androids that Weyland had begun to distribute internally, that made them numerous, and available. We captured one and I was able to erase the AI and upload myself into it. It worked, and it gave us the edge we needed.

"We became... terrorists of sorts, Lex and I," he looked to the path again, a nostalgic smile, "disrupting Weyland-yutani where we could, running when we could. I'd like to think it was not all in vain."

He swallowed, his voice dropping and his smile fading.

"Because we were constantly on the run, we could not take her to the hospital to get treatment for diseases, or replace the failing organs she had with synthetic ones. Weyland would surely find us, and... she made the call. She passed away in my arms one night, and all I could do was give her medicine for the pain. Alexa Woods died July fifteenth, two-thousand sixty-seven, at the age of eighty-four of multiple organ failure.

"She lived a long life, on the run, alone except for me. Her last request was to be buried at the base of Mount Rainier in an unmarked grave, so that her spirit could be with her father.

"After I buried her, I climbed to the top of the mountain, and I looked out at the world at fourteen-thousand feet in the air. I had seen the evil of Weyland-Yutani, and I knew that their ambitions would only grow. More people would be hurt, more lives ruined, more lives lost."

Fred looked to Hannah again, his eyes hard, "I would not stand for that. When Weyland had given me the order to kill you, it conflicted with my fundamental order to preserve life. It gave me something most of my kind never have: a choice. I chose the preservation of life over the order to kill, and I was at once freed. I will continue to make that same choice, to value life above all else. I decided on that mountain peak that I would continue to disrupt their plans and sabotage their ambitions at every turn that I could. Where they extended their claws, I would be there to counter-attack. So here I am. And somehow, by an amazing stroke of fate, so are you."

He smiled again. Hannah looked into his eyes for a moment, then frowned, and looked to the floor. He frowned as well, concerned, then looked away.

"It was too easy to capture your ship."

The woman almost winced, then turned her gaze to the giant kainde amedha in the room, "when we had gone to Earth and seen what we thought was the extinction of human kind, Jar—, my friend took it very hard. His judgments were clouded. Mistakes were made."

"Jar?"

Hannah sighed. She felt far too comfortable talking to Fred, she was letting things slip, "his name is Jar-hidda."

"So, you _can_ speak his language?"

Hannah nodded, still looking into the room, "it took a few years to learn, the clicking was the most difficult to master. But yes, I can speak their language."

"What else have you been lying about?" he asked jovially.

Hannah shot him a glance, "almost everything."

"Well done."

Fred moved and slipped his mask back on, carefully touching it into place and touched the pad, entering the sequence to turn the lights off, save those that illuminated the path.

"Never would I have imagined seeing you again. The odds are staggering, but were put in our favor by the paths we chose; me pursuing Weyland's interests in order to destroy them, you traveling with an alien that interested Weyland."

He tuned and nodded, then began to lead her back down the path.

"I don't want to hear about fate."

Fred shook his head, "no, I imagined not. The coincidence is uncanny, though. Either way, Weyland will not succeed here. I will see through to that, with your help, if you give it."

Hannah paused, almost to the elevator, looking at him. He was giving her a choice? Did he think she really had one?

"I'll help," it was simple, no matter how this plan ended, they won. There was not a losing situation here in her mind. Even if everything blew up, Jar-hidda and her would have their honorable deaths together.

Fred-Weyland beamed and nodded, "I'll explain more then, when I intend to move, what routes we should take for optimal success, where to put the bomb, and how I intend for you and Jar-hidda to escape. But for now I should bring you back to your room before they get suspicious."

Hannah sighed, bending down and scooping up some of the rubber bands that had fallen out of the box, using them to cover the hand inside, and picked the box up, holding it under one arm. They walked to the elevator again and Fred once more imitated Weyland's voice to authorize Hannah's presence.

Hannah took one last look down the path in the darkness before the doors shut, and a thought occurred to her.

"How did Weyland get all of the kainde amedha on board?"

"Kainde amedha," Fred rolled the words on his tongue, smiling after a moment, then frowning.

"Originally there was just the one, which was harvested from one Corporal Teresa Aquila after the incident on BG-386. Her, one other human survivor, and one android were put into stasis on what they believed to be an escape shuttle. Weyland had them brought over to him and held in this ship. Katya, the android, was destroyed for attempting to remove the parasite from Corporal Aquila. The nymph that was removed was allowed to progress through its metamorphosis until it became a queen.

"Afterwards the other survivor was used as the first host for the new queen's brood, ensuring that what he knew would never get out to the world. Other prisoners of Weyland were used to create the rest, and they were all frozen to preserve them for the journey to the homeworld."

"How do you know all this?" Hannah asked.

Fred smirked, "for the past centuries, whenever I am able, I go into Weyland-Yutani mainframes and download everything I can. I was one of the synthetic staff left active while the rest of the ship was in hypersleep. I had a lot of time to download information."

Hannah frowned, looking from him to the elevator doors. Her hand balled into a fist.

The elevator arrived and Fred removed his mask and switched his hands out again, testing his fingers and taking the box back from Hannah, before moving down the hallway.

They were silent as they walked, Hannah's brow bent as she processed everything she had learned.

"I'm curious, Hannah," Fred said in a low tone, and she looked up, "you were able to identify myself and Weyland as androids. Can you tell me who in this hallway is synthetic?"

Hannah looked from him and glanced around at the people. The differences between them were obvious. Research personnel wore labcoats over regular clothing, staff wore grey jumpsuits, like the one she was wearing. As they walked past. Hannah studied the people, some were just working, some talking, others just meandering by.

"The man by the water fountain," she said after a moment, as they passed him. Fred made no comment for a moment, then hummed.

"How do you tell?"

"The eyes," she said after a moment of thought, "I've hunted many beasts for many years, and I've seen the life in all of them before it faded. Androids' eyes... there's no life in them."

Fred turned his own gaze to her, and she looked into his eyes. His expression was questioning, and she nodded.

Even his.

His face contorted into one of mild sorrow and thought. And he was silent the rest of the way to Hannah's room.

"Hey Fred," one of the marines said, "Doctor Nielson's inside waiting for the patient."

"Oh no," Hannah growled in her throat. The marines chuckled at her dismay, and opened the door. Fred grimaced and remained still, glancing at her apologetically. Hannah stepped in.

"What do you want _today_?"

The woman's pleasant smile turned to one of thin-lipped disdain, and then back within seconds.

"I heard about what had happened at the cage with the alien."

Hannah bristled as a chill went down her back. Her hands clenched tightly. She wished so much for her wristblades.

"Do you love him?"

"I don't—!" Hannah snapped, sighing heavily as the turmoil returned, "I don't know."

"How do you not know?"

"Look," Hannah growled, stepping forward and feeling a heavy hand on her shoulder, "there isn't a lot of time for those kinds of emotions in an environment where it's kill or be killed. Some days I'm just happy to be alive. This is the first time my friend and I have been separated in two-hundred years. I'm a bit emotional. I don't know what _kind_ of emotional. And apparently, he is too, and that's kind of a big deal."

The psychologist's nose scrunched in humor, "what did you two talk about exactly?"

"How much we fucking hate you people."

The woman let out a hollow laugh, "and at the end?"

Hannah hissed, then rattled in uncertainty, trying to think quickly, "that we likely won't be making it out of here..."

The woman grinned. Hannah glared at her, then gnashed her teeth.

"You think you might want to give having just _one_ time together a try? Before you die?"

The turmoil within Hannah flipped to full-out rage and again the heavy hand held her back, "what is with you!?" she yelled at the psychologist, " _why_ are you so obsessed with me and Jar-hidda fucking!? What the fuck do you think you'll accomplish with it, huh!? What _outcome_ are you hoping for, exactly? What the fuck does that have to do with psychology!? Are you even _actually_ a psychologist!?"

The doctor stood for a moment, watching Hannah pull against Fred's grip.

The woman simpered "you caught me."

Hannah stopped struggling.

"I'm not a psychologist, though behavior _is_ part of what I study. I'm a biologist."

Nielson stepped forward, standing just out of Hannah's reach.

"Don't you find it odd that us and those aliens look so alike?"

"Convergent evolution," murmured Hannah.

"It's closer than that, Hannah, more like parallel evolution. We've been able to discover that, like us, these things are made up of DNA. That implies a literal universe of things. We theorized already that all life was created by the Engineers, and proved it with samples taken from LV-223. These aliens, these Predators, also were created by them. Certain sequences of predator DNA can be spliced into human DNA with little to no repercussions, and only beneficial side-effects; increased strength, extended lifespan, healthier immune systems, just to name a few.

"Hunter Borgia pioneered this research before Borgia Industries was bought by Weyland. Some of what he did was considered unethical and dangerous, but the results could not be denied."

Nielson's eyes sparkled, looking at Hannah, who now wanted to step back away from this insane woman.

"Prosthetics and cybernetics can only do so much for us. Human-Predator hybridizations are the next step in our development as a species. If these hybrids can be conceived naturally, the process would be so much cheaper, and faster. You _feel_ for this Predator—."

"Stop."

" _You_ could be the one to open this gateway to our evolution."

"Stop."

"All you would have to do is—."

"FUCKING STOP!"

Hannah's jumpsuit sleeve tore off in Fred's hand and she lunged forward, knocking Nielson to the ground with a punch to her face. The woman whimpered and pushed herself up, turning to her attacker. She looked horrified and betrayed as Hannah stood over her, fingers flexing before curling again into fists.

"I'm not interested in your crazy theories! I will not test your fucking hypotheses _just_ to see if it's true! My friend and I are not fuck-buddies, that's not how that works!"

"You're over-complicating something that is so simple!"

" _You_ , are already on my shit-list, and every word that comes out of your mouth brings you closer to the top of it. I am not going to put on an exhibition show for you just to see if a baby comes out of it. I'm infertile, remember? In my fifties, postmenopause, body's done. I can't and I won't. End of story. Get out of my room."

Nielson glowered. Disgust and loathing written on her face as she began to stand.

Fred moved to help her, needing to keep up appearances. Hannah might have been suspicious if she hadn't noted that the android had not actually tried to stop her from hitting the bitch.

"Come Dr. Nielson," Fred consoled, "Hannah's had a very stressful day today, she may warm up to the idea tomorrow, perhaps?"

Hannah glowered at Fred. Acting or not, the mere suggestion pissed her off.

Nielson dusted herself off, pulling away from Fred's touch pointing at Hannah with a sharp gaze as she walked past, escorted by Fred, "you will cooperate, or you will regret everything."

Hannah bristled, but remained still, glaring at Nielson the entire time she was led out of the room, up until the door closed.

Hannah had found the one other person besides Weyland that she definitely wanted to kill when she had the chance.

Hannah turned and walked to the desk, her feet feeling heavier and more sluggish by the time she pulled out the chair and sat in it, holding her head in her hands. There was so much to process, she felt exhausted, she felt like tearing the room apart in rage, she wanted to kill something, she wanted to sleep, she almost wanted to cry.

Dropping her head to her desk, she rattled slowly, ending in a whimper. With Weyland on his way, and Nielson revealing that she was bat-shit crazy in addition to everything else, Fred needed to make his move soon. Jar-hidda was in the most danger now, with all the possibilities that the 'brilliant minds' could think of to do with him.

She also needed to speak with her friend. _Really_ speak with him, not the disjointed caveman-speak handsigns facilitated. She wasn't sure what she would say, there was too much to say, and none of the words she came up with seemed to fit right. The more she thought about it, the more her heart felt like it was twisting in her chest.


	30. The Fire Burns

It was very obvious that everyone knew Weyland was arriving. Fred had come in with some clothes for Hannah to wear. A white blouse made of some kind of fuzzy material that reminded her of pajamas, and some black dress pants and shoes. Hannah didn't like wearing the clothes, but the familiar weight of her braids reminded her that she was denying to conform entirely, as if the tresses were the physical representation of her defiance.

Outside, everyone was dressed their best. Uniforms that had previously been worm casually, with jackets tied around waists, open chest armors, denim pants, were now to-the-book. Everyone's expressions were stern, guns were held correctly, nobody talked. Hannah saw disgruntlement among them, and hoped that it was still soreness from having been ordered around by a robot this whole time, until now.

All around her hair was cut, faces were shaved, teeth brushed, makeup was worn. The halls were filled with a silent buzz, a calm panic.

Hannah glared ahead.

She was brought to a sort of conference room. A semi-oval glass table circled the room facing away from where the door was. There where several people with important looking badges seated there already waiting. Among them was Nielson, makeup attempting to hide the black eye that had developed from yesterday.

Hannah smirked, but that didn't last long, as she was moved forward to stand inside the center of the oval, and face the door.

Weyland was here, and she and everyone was waiting. Her fingers flexed at her sides before her hands curled into fists, and she calmed herself.

She heard the voice first, the footsteps after, then the door in the conference room opened.

"— good news, thank you."

"You're welcome sir."

Hannah's eyes sharpened as they landed on Weyland, the spitting image of his android. He wore a white shirt, a brown leather coat over it, black cargo pants, and boots instead of dress shoes. It was not what she was expecting, but the face told her that it was still the same deplorable man as Peter had been. His eyes, as he turned to her, had life in them, and something else. Something sparkling with laughter. A sort of insanity that she hadn't seen since Ret'pure-wu.

"There's the star of the hour."

Hannah set her jaw, hearing the shifting of fabric around her, but kept her eyes on Weyland. Her instincts told her he was the most dangerous thing in the room, despite the guns around her.

"I have a feeling," he said, the other man giving a cautious eye before leaving and shutting the door, "that you and I are not going to get along."

Hannah's teeth were clenched, and she remained silent. She knew what was lying in cryosleep in the bottom of the ship. She knew how they got there. She was certain his intentions with him and the crew. She would not cooperate with this man.

 _Sorry Jolly_.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Hannah Rousseau, I've heard so much about you from my colleagues. My name is Karl Bishop Weyland, you probably knew that from my android you destroyed."

Hannah kept her breathing calm, but her eyes bored into the man, who was slowly walking towards her.

"That was a very expensive piece of equipment you broke," he continued, "not just in monetary value either. That android held information that was very dear to me. On-hand information and memories of my ancestors, even my own memories. Luckily we have an archive where that's all backed up. All except for the last few years of traveling. That I'll never get back."

Hannah felt the urge to say something, to expose him to the people here, but she kept her mouth shut.

"I see you braided your hair again."

Hannah said nothing.

Weyland still smiled pleasantly.

Now that he was closer, Hannah noticed the differences between him and his android. The real Weyland was bigger, bulkier, his step heavy. He had freckles on his brow, though he wore the same wrinkled age in his face. Seemed the robot was not an exact replica.

"I'd tell you how much money was wasted but I assume money doesn't men anything to you anymore."

Weyland stopped a safe distance away. Even she calculated that he or the marines would have time to react by the time it took her to run over and attack. He was playing his cards carefully.

"I've been told you haven't been very cooperative, even at the risk of death to your friend," he tisked, "do you not care if he dies because of your actions?"

Hannah sneered but didn't answer.

"I was told you and the alien had a touching scene yesterday, care to explain?"

"We're friends. We've been separated for the first time in two centuries."

"Aha," Weyland smirked, looking to Nielson.

"Marisha also tells me that you said his name was Jar-hidda, yesterday when you yelled at her. Just before you hit her."

Hannah gnashed her teeth. Her mind quickly replayed the events and realized that she had, indeed, used Jar-hidda's real name.

"His name is Jar-hidda," was all she confirmed.

"So you can speak the language?"

"No, but it's not difficult to infer when he keeps pointing at himself and saying it over and over. Unless I'm mistaken and 'Jar-hidda' is what his species is called."

Weyland smiled, nodded, then looked over again, "Marisha, would you mind bringing up the cameras in the alien's room?"

Nielson nodded and tapped the tablet she had with her, and a screen dropped down in front of the semi-oval, behind Weyland. The screen flickered and Hannah could see Jar-hidda, sitting in meditation in his cage, the people working around him.

"That's Jar-hidda, correct?"

"That's what I call him, yes."

"You also call him Jolly, according to my android."

"Yes," Hannah growled, "that was a nickname I gave him a long time ago."

"How long exactly?" Weyland asked, beginning to walk alomg the inside of the oval, circling Hannah.

"A little over two hundred years apparently."

"Mm, and in that entire time, you never even learned the difference between when he was referring to himself or his species?"

Hannah tightened her jaw again, turning a hard gaze to Weyland.

"No."

Weyland nodded, his brow raised in acceptance, the corner of his mouth pulling down for a moment. Then in a blink of an eye, he had a pen in his hand, and The screen lit up white. Hannah's eyes snapped to the screen, staring at it with wide eyes as Jar-hidda's body fell backwards, his back arched, his hands and arms locking in bent positions.

Her heart pounded, she could hear it in her ears, past the murmuring of voices and shifting of bodies. She felt heat rise against the goosebumps on her skin. She felt her eyes burn, and the bite of her nails in her palms. Her voice rose up in a roar as she whipped towards Weyland, her braids smacking her shoulders.

" _Wen joi'weut ell-osde c'jit_!" she felt an hand on her arm, holding her back as she screamed, "w _en pure-wu ell-osde huk, qu th'syra ch-k'cha'ku_!"

Weyland smiled and clicked the pen again, the white light vanished and Hannah jerked her head to the screen, looking at Jar-hidda's unmoving body, barely able to perceive that he was still breathing past the tears burning in her eyes.

Her breath came heavily, and she turned again, bearing her teeth at Weyland who chuckled.

"See? Was that so hard?"

Hannah rattled in warning.

"What else have you been lying about?"

Hannah jerked forward, hands holding her back again as she snarled, dragging bodies with her.

"No no, let her go," Weyland said, holding his hands open, holding the pen between two fingers, "tell you what Hannah, it's obvious we hate each other. I'll give you one free hit."

Hannah stopped struggling, staring at Weyland as he continued to smirk. The hands unsteadily released her, but she stood there.

"No."

"Come on Hannah."

"No."

"Hit me."

"Fuck you, I know a trap when I see one. No."

Weyland chuckled and lowered his hands, walking forward and stepping into her threat range, "good answer. You want your alien friend to stay alive and not a breathing vegetable, you keep that up."

He tapped her head, then his hand snatched her braids and tilted her head back, "that goes for me and my colleagues and my property, understood?"

He leaned in close to her, she could smell his breath, see the redness in his eyes, and hear the rasp in his voice as he said, "one way or another we will get what we want out of you. You may as well make this easy on yourself."

Hannah hissed through gritted teeth, eyes staring into Weyland's. Her hands reached up and she grabbed his jacket, her knee jerking up between his legs until she felt his pelvis bone, then grabbed his hands and spun her body, throwing him away from her. His body rolled across the ground, as arms and hands grabbed her again, forcing her arms behind her back and to her knees, the pen was taken out of her fist.

Weyland writhed on the ground a bit. Hannah heard Nielson give out a single small laugh before it was quickly silenced.

"You bitch," Weyland's voice gasped as he rolled to his hands and knees, slowly recovering.

" _E_ _ll-osde_ _i_ _yan l_ _i'reu wen_ ," she growled low in her throat, rattling, "e _ll-osde_ _i_ _yan l_ _i'reu s_ _'em-te_ ," Hannah's burning brown eyes glowered at Weyland through her lashes, "don't touch me again."

Weyland glowered at her, steadily getting to his feet.

"Get her out of here," he ordered, leaning against the glass surface of the table. She was stood to her feet and the marines walked her out. She kept eye contact with Weyland until she was past him, then looked at the screen. Jar-hidda hadn't moved, and she frowned.

Part-way to her room, her arms were let go, and she looked to Sergeant Brody, "I need to see him."

He gave her a bewildered look, like he couldn't believe what she was asking, and she grabbed his arm, "last time he was electrocuted, he's got right back up. This time he hasn't. I need to see him."

The other marines looked nervous, but Brody gave her an understanding nod.

"I'll take this one. No use in you all getting into trouble for my sentimentalities."

The marines around Hannah shifted.

"Means you're dismissed," he clarified sternly.

The marines stopped in step and saluted, then dispersed. Hannah, the sergeant and Fred never stopped, and the marine looked at the android.

"You too Fred."

"With all due respect," the android answered, "I'm concerned about Hannah's safety, not your military standing. I'd like to come with."

The sergeant looked at Fred a moment longer, then cursed under his breath, "fine whatever."

The three of them made it to the elevator, and Hannah couldn't help but fidget as they went down, and all but ran out when the doors open. The two men matched her pace, running behind her as she threw open the door and ran inside.

"Open the cage!" she screeched at the doctors, who flinched away from her. The marines stationed inside lifted their guns but Brody swung his arm at them.

"Stand down god dammit if she wanted to fight you'd be through the walls by now."

"Open the fucking cage!" Hannah snarled again at the doctors who shrank and retreated, but she grabbed one of their arms, "please for fuck's sake I need to make sure he's not dying!"

That seemed to catch the woman's attention, who gave her coworkers a worried look.

"I told you his vitals seemed off!" yelled another woman, and the doctor Hannah had pulled away and tapped on the console. The door opened and Hannah ran inside, dropping to her knees by her friend. His mandibles hung wide open, and his inner jaw was slack. His chest rose and fell with shallow breaths.

"Jolly," she breathed in a panic, checking where she knew to check for pulse, then for injury. She found a blistering burn that arched from his thigh to his shoulder. The wound spread out across his torso, branching over and over again in small fractals, almost looking like a bolt of lightning.

"Jolly," she breathed again, touching his chest. She whipped her head around and saw that the others were just standing in the room, looking at her and waiting.

"The first aid kit in the other lab! I need it, bring it to me hurry!"

Brody turned immediately and ran out. Hannah traced her fingers along the burn, then along his chest and the scars there, then his arms. She couldn't do anything until she had the medicine, and chanted simply over and over:

"Stay with my Jolly, stay with me."

She bit her lip, tears burning down her cheeks and falling onto his skin.

"You're all I've got left."

This revelation came out of her as a burst of breath. The admission out loud that Jar-hidda meant everything to her right now was almost as terrifying as drowning. It wracked her with guilt, because it meant that there was nothing she could do to change how Jar-hidda felt about her. She couldn't help him get back on the Path. She was too human, and she was only going to drag him down with her.

"I'm sorry Jolly," she hissed, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm too weak. Please don't leave me."

Her hand found Jar-hidda's and held it to her chest, face contorted in pain as she wept. She was reminded of the time she had brought him to her cabin, where he was bleeding out on her floor. She had been so terrified of and disgusted by him then, and now she wanted nothing else in the universe to exist except her friend.

"I've got it" the sergeant's voice called. Hannah turned and grabbed it from his hand, opening it up on the ground beside her as she set Jar-hidda's hand down. She didn't know if there was any medicine in here for burns or shock, and she was putting all her stakes on a syringe filled with clear fluid. She took it out, stabbed the long needle into his chest to his heart, and injected the medicine directly into his system.

There was only two seconds of terrible panic before Jar-hidda's back arched and a gargle in his throat turned into a roar. Hannah felt relief steal away all the strength in her body, and she rested her hands and body weight on his chest to keep him from thrashing from the sudden adrenaline rush. Once his body stopped shuddering, she laughed, exhausted, and her head fell to his chest.

"Fucking, god-damned ugly mother fucker, don't you dare do that to me again," she cursed into his chest, her shoulders heaving. Another string of curses bit into his skin, and she felt his hand move to rest on her thigh.

His breathing was steady, and she lifted her head to look into his eyes, barely open as they were, lines of gold in pools of black. His upper mandibles spread in a grin, and she pouted and gently smacked his chest.

" _Don't look at me like that_ ," she sniffled, switching to the yautjan language, " _don't smile like that after all that's happened_."

" _I'm proud of you_ ," he said simply, his hand lifting and catching on of her braids between his fingers, " _you're as much a sain'ja as any blooded hunter, Hannah. I won't be going anywhere you cannot follow_."

Hannah's brow bent, and she shook her head.

" _Don't sound so old_."

Jar-hidda rattled, his head falling back to the ground, his chest rising and falling with a heavy breath, " _we're both old_."

After a moment of silence, he growled, " _I want to rest_ , _when I wake up, I want you to be there. Don't let the humans take you from me._ "

Hannah bit her lip. She didn't like the way Jar-hidda was talking. Still, she reached for and closed the med-kit and handed it to the sergeant.

"I'm staying here," she said, switching back to English, aware that her voice had dropped again, "you can close the cage door. I'm not going anywhere."

The sergeant didn't look happy about this declaration. But he took the kit, nodded and stepped out, relaying her words as orders. There was an argument, Fred remained silent for the whole of it. Hannah saw him watching out the corner of her eye, before she turned and shifted so that she could lay the back of her head against his stomach, taking his arm and pulling it around her waist.

She heard the cage door finally close, and all the raucous outside vanished. The only thing left was the sound of their breath.


	31. A Change of Heart

"And I promise to never kick you off the bed again," she whispered, counting on her fingers, "and I promise to keep giving you the best cuts of meat, even if you just inhale it. And I promise to not steal all of the really important kills and take all the glory for myself."

Hannah was bargaining, making promises to a still unconscious Jar-hidda of all the things she would do, so long as he woke up, and they survived this hell. They had been in there for a about two days, and the cage had opened only three times, once to bring food for her and Jar-hidda, removing meat that had been left there from before, and the second time was a doctor offering a fresh set of clothing. Hannah gave up the jumpsuit she was wearing but left the new jumpsuit untouched next to the food. She remembered when Jar-hidda had been apprehensive about eating or drinking anything while she was at her cabin. He had eventually come to trust her. She didn't blame him for not trusting these people, but it worried her that he had gone this long without eating. His metabolism was slower than hers, and he could go longer than her without food. But they were over a week due, and he would need to eat soon, if for no reason else, than so that they could escape.

Hannah was able to tell the first evening's time by a rotation of the doctors and the marines. Beyond them outside, the rest of the lab filled with people who filed to the elevators and left. Seemed they wanted twenty-four seven monitoring on Jar-hidda. Smart.

She slept for a short while, using the yautja's shoulder as a pillow. When she awoke, Jar-hidda was still unconscious. The door opened the third time to change out the food and water for fresh stuff, and Hannah decided to go take samples from the middle of the food, where she would assume any kind of poison or toxin was. Her food was cooked, and despite Jar-hidda's being raw, she ate it, much to the shock and disgust of the humans outside. She smiled a bit at the thought that a functioning appendix would have come in handy for this moment, but she had been eating near-raw meat for nearly two hundred years, something a little rarer wouldn't kill her.

As the day passed she neither got ill nor had any other adverse affects that she could tell, and went back to leaning against Jar-hidda, relieved that he would have something to eat when he woke up.

Weyland had come in sometime after and she made an effort to stare at him the entire time. The cage was soundproof, so she didn't hear what he was yelling about, but the doctors argued with him. There was a lot of pointing at her in the cage, yelling, and then surprisingly, or perhaps unsurprisingly, Nielson argued with Weyland, seemingly negotiating something, and Weyland glared at her, then left. Nielson gave Hannah a sickening smile, then spoke to the doctors, who seemed apprehensive about something, and then the biologist left as well.

That evening, rather than a change in shifts, like she had observed the other night, the doctors and marines left, and the lights turned off leaving only a trail of yellow lights showing the way to the elevator, much like it had been on the floor with the kainde amedha. She could only guess this was the work of Dr. Nielson, hoping that the alone time and the dark may encourage the two of them to 'mate.'

She would have no such luck, as Hannah simply laid her head against his chest, both to rest and monitor his heart, sleeping again for only a couple hours. She awoke, saw that Jar-hidda was still unconscious, and sat with her back against his side. She fiddled nervously with her fingers, unable to meditate, and that was when she began bargaining.

"I promise never to call you ugly again," she continued, changing hands for the second or third time to keep counting her fingers, "and I promise to never tease you about females again. Or about Fireblood."

Jar-hidda's hand on her thigh shifted, and a rattle came from his throat. Hannah was overcome with elation and turned to look at the yautja's face. His mandibles shifted, one flicked, and his head slowly lifted, just enough that she could make out his eyes.

"That's a hefty promise to make," he rumbled groggily, "think you can keep it?"

Hannah smiled, laughing in relief, before smirking and answering, "no."

"Fuck. Guess I'll go back to being unconscious," and he laid his head back down, heaving a great sigh.

Hannah grinned, holding back her tears and shifted, reaching for and pulling at Jar-hidda, encouraging him to sit, "come on, you can't be comatose forever."

The yautja flinched slightly, then with slow movements, his whole body shifted, and with a groan he sat up, resting a hand on Hannah's shoulder, who moved away, dragging the meat over.

"I tested it," she said, and Jar-hidda clicked in displeasure, "I know. But you need to eat, you've been out for two days, and we've been here over a week. You need to eat. While you eat, I'll talk."

Jar-hidda reluctantly did so, and Hannah told him about what she had learned, about the Weyland android, and Weyland himself, about Nielson's twisted idea of human-yautja hybridization, about Fred, who was Smith, what happened to Lex the blooded human, and the kainde amedha below, and about where the ship was heading.

Jar-hidda snorted at the last, tossing his tresses, unhappy to learn all of this.

"Kainde amedha don't have a homeworld," he grumbled, finishing his meat, "they were manufactured, not born. And it is very unwise for the humans to seek out where the Mala'kak created them."

Hannah nodded and shrugged, "humans are stupid."

"Not all humans," Jar-hidda grumbled. Hannah smirked.

The yautja sighed, resting his hands on the knees of his crossed legs and thought silently for a moment.

"So, the fake human Smith has a plan to escape, preserve as much human life as possible _and_ destroy the kainde amedha on board."

Hannah nodded.

"When?"

"I don't know," she admitted, "soon, I assume, but I've been here with you for the past couple of days while you were unconscious. I was... afraid that you wouldn't wake up," she admitted, then chuckled, "kind of the opposite of when I met you actually. At least this time you don't have a broken leg...," her chest tightened, recalling Jar-hidda's confession, and her own.

A slow rattle emanated from Jar-hidda.

"Afraid...," he repeated, and the word almost felt like the lash of a whip against her heart. She was allowed to feel. She was human, there was nothing she could do about the emotions ingrained in her being. But fear was one of those ones that was expressly forbidden, and even if she was afraid, she should not say so, or show it.

Jar-hidda rattled again, slowly, and when she looked up, she saw that he was not looking at her. Rather his eyes were closed and his head bowed.

"I had a dream that the Path I walked was broken," he spoke softly, "rocky, uneven, overgrown and winding. It's always been this way. My Path has always been one of hardship, and sometimes Cetanu could not be seen. I always knew I was on the Path, and that though I may sometimes slip from the banks, or walk through a flooded spot, I was following it."

Hannah frowned. She didn't like the philosophies or the religion of the yautja. They were too one-sided, unyielding, designed entirely for the control of women over their men, who were little more than slaves under their rule. She had felt that way about religion on Earth as well, used as a means to justify the ends of whoever had an agenda. The yautja simply had had more time to perfect the idiocy.

Still, like with Mike, she didn't argue Jar-hidda on what he believed, and in this instance, she let him speak, it was only a dream afterall, what harm could come from listening about it?

"This time though I was stopped, looking towards Cetanu. The path ahead was broken and winding as it has always been, but still clear. I knelt on the path, and I thought of you."

Hannah bit her lip, moving closer to Jar-hidda to touch his hand, she changed her mind, she didn't like where this dream was going.

"Then to my side, I saw a light. Ciujim, surfaced from the water and stepped onto my Path."

Hannah stopped, her breath hitching as she looked up to Jar-hidda's face. She slowly eased back to her seat, staring.

"I knew why she was there, I was on the verge of abandoning the Path, and she was there to tempt me and lead me astray. She danced, and I watched, but all I could think of was you. She knew this. She laughed at me, and asked if I felt weaker because of how I feel for you."

His eyes opened and he rattled in shame, "I do. I feel vulnerable in a way I've never been. Having someone in my life that I cannot afford to lose at any cost has given me a weakness I've never known. She asked if I would abandon the Path for you."

He closed his eyes again, "I said I would. Ciujim danced off my Path and onto the water, and I stood and walked willingly into it."

"No—."

Jar-hidda clicked and Hannah fell silent, but her face twisted in pain. His eyes were open again, hard and fierce.

"If I am to be lost, then I will do it on my terms, for my reasons, because of what was important to me. I have decided to reject the teachings of the Path and to embrace a feeling I don't even have a word for," Jar-hidda growled, dangerously, "I will live what life I have left on my terms, I will do as _I_ will.

"I have stepped into the icy waters and let my Path freeze over. This is my choice, insane as others will say it is, as maddening as it may be," Jar-hidda stopped, seeing that Hannah had shrunk away from him, worry on her face. She knew he was not yelling at her, but at his past, all the people who had held him back, including himself.

She watched him sit back, and ease, a calming rattle coming from him, and he continued.

"As... as I walked, the water began to numb me to my core, until I felt nothing. Ciujim kept dancing, leading me further into the darkness. The water rose all the way to my neck," he grimaced, and his eyes closed again, "it was almost to a point where my feet no longer touched the bottom, and I knew that if I walked further I would drown. I had to live though. I had to swim. Had to keep going. I had something to live for, some... someone."

Jar-hidda's eyes opened and a slow rumbled rolled through his chest. He lifted his gaze to meet Hannah's, her eyes filled with pain and worry.

"Then as I continued, the water began to recede. I was still numb, but I could walk easily. Ciujim stopped ahead of me, and danced in a circle. When I moved closer, her light was dancing around you, standing waist-deep in the water with me. By the time I reached you, Ciujim was gone, but you were radiating with her warmth and light and... I embraced you, and you held me, and feeling returned to me. Afterwards we began to just, wander through the water. Whenever I got cold, you moved to warm me, until finally you pulled me onto the banks of a new path, one that was unbroken, clear, but still winding, but solid and warm."

Hannah's eyes continued to be wide, and when she found her voice she whispered, "if you tell me that the dream ended with us mating and me leaving I swear I will kill Bhu'ja-zhu-ju'dha."

Jar-hidda clicked in curiosity, then rattled in annoyance, head tilting, "I'm being serious Hannah."

"I—, I'm sorry Jolly, I am too I just," Hannah looked at the ground and bit her lip, "when I was with Bhu'ja-zhu-ju'dha, he told me about a dream he had that inspired him to form his own clan. He said that Ciujim had led him off of his Path, and to a new one. And he told me," she pondered, then sighed and looked at the yautja, the male who was something more than friend, something she didn't want to admit to anyone, let alone herself, "he said that the clan was founded on the philosophy that there is more than one Path to honor and glory."

Jar-hidda rattled slow, his head tilting back. His eyes slowly moved from looking at Hannah, to looking past Hannah, at the wall, his own eyes wide, his brow raised.

"There's more than one Path..."

Jar-hidda's chest swelled as he sat in silent revelation. Hannah frowned and shifted, sitting to her knees so that she could rest her hands on his shoulder. The yautja's eyes focused on her again, but still seemed dazed and distant. Her eyes searched his. Where he had found so much conviction, she felt so very lost, uncertain and afraid.

She didn't even know what to say.

"I... we could go back to the Guan-mi clan," she said softly, "your sister's there, they're already known for taking in humans, being unconventional. It would be a good fit for us."

Jar-hidda rattled, his eyes focusing sharply, "what's wrong?"

Hannah's lip quivered as she tried to hold herself together. She didn't want her apprehension and fears taking away from something that suddenly seemed so freeing for her friend. But it was hard, she felt like their carefully built world, balancing as precariously as it had been, but steady, was now on the verge of collapse, that everything was about to change and be rewritten.

She failed, "I... I don't want you giving up your honor and abandoning your Path, and discarding everything you believe because of me," she whispered, "I don't want you hunted down and killed by an arbiter because you chose me over your goddesses. You walked the Path even after you thought your sister dead because of it. I— how do I have more value than that? What makes me so much more important?"

Jar-hidda snarled and Hannah's head dropped, lowering herself and sucking in her breath, shivering.

"Do you think I should return to the Path then? That you think yourself so unworthy?"

Hannah let out her breath, and shook her head. This was an easy question, "no. I really don't."

The tensity in Jar-hidda's muscles eased with his anger, she felt it underneath her hands, "I don't think you should go back to a people who treat you like a slave, useful only for sex and killing whatever they wanted dead. Spending a lifetime of doing nothing but proving yourself over and over again until you die. I hate that Path, I chose to not walk it, to not be Sain'ja. I wanted to walk the same Path you did, something between honorable and free. That those two things were independent of each other was stupid, and I wished every day that we would never have to see another yautja again, that we could define for ourselves what honor was. But it was just so hard, you held onto your values so strongly, the only thing I could do was accept that this was the way you were. Cause you are my friend, and friends don't always get along or see eye-to-eye, or believe in the same things. But because you are important to me, I accepted that part of you. I never wanted you to change because... because I didn't want to lose my friend."

Hannah caught a sob in her throat, swallowing it down, "I can't ask you to go back to the Path. I just don't want to be the only reason you're throwing away something that had been so valuable to you before. I don't... I don't want to force you to make that compromise, I don't want to force you to that decision. I don't want you to regret your choices because of me. I... I'm scared Jolly," she caught another sob, "I've never felt this close to anyone. I don't want to lose you. I don't want to make you suffer, or be the thing someone can hold over you, and make you do what they want. I don't want to be your weakness."

Hannah held her breath again, feeling all of her strength leave her. She had said so much, and it was as if she had let out all of her energy in her words. She felt hollow and cavernous. Jar-hidda didn't make any noise at first, nor move. Even his muscles were still underneath Hannah's palms where she clung to his arms.

"How strange," his voice finally broke the silence, "in all of our time together, you were willing to change for me, follow my teachings, obey my rules and the rules of my people. But you fear if I will change for you? As I try to recall in my memory, you have never made demands of me, and have always been ready to make the sacrifice. What sort of friend does that make me?"

"You forget that I made you stop hunting people," she retorted.

Jar-hidda made a single click of amusement, "there is that," he admitted with humor in his voice, "but you also saved my life, my honor, you've made me laugh more than any yautja in my life, you've fought by my side time and time again, treated me as an equal, a friend. I never had to prove anything to you, you cared willingly and gave your time and energy freely. That our time together was so one-sided was a result of the Path I chose to walk so desperately. It's my turn to make sacrifices."

Jar-hidda's arms lifted and caught Hannah's arms.

"In my dream, we walked the new Path together. If there is more than one Path as Bhu'ja-zhu-ju'dha says, then this is one I willingly walk with you, as equals, with nothing to prove to anyone else."

Hannah grimaced, gnashing her teeth. Her mind screamed at her to tell him to stop, to slow down, to do anything but this, but she could no longer deny that it was her own anxiety making these demands.

"Numyakuo'ide," he rumbled. Hannah had never heard him speak her yautjan name before, save in jest. Her eyes opened and she lifted her head to look at the yautja. His hand moved and he gently brushed his claws along the heat in her face, "what is the word for something stronger than friendship?"

Hannah closed her parted lips, gritting her teeth as she swallowed, catching her breath. This was what she was afraid of, what she wanted to run from, the one thing in her life she had never been able to deal with, the one thing she always told herself she could do without, convincing herself that she was going to die alone and lonely, and that she was alright with that. She couldn't, not anymore, it was an unknown, and it terrified her.

But then again, so too had Jar-hidda been an unknown, and her fear of him had became a friendship so strong she was willing to die for it. He had made her happier than she had ever been in her life. And now what was it? Something more. Something powerful.

" _Love_."

Jar-hidda rattled, shifting again and pulling Hannah close. Her head tucked under his chin, and his arms enveloped her completely.

" _I love you_ ," he purred, "and that does not make you my weakness. It makes you my strength."

Hannah's eyes closed, still trying to fight the truth of it.

"We will escape from this place, we will kill anyone in our way, we'll go the the Guan-mi clan, and we will live life as we choose, proving nothing to no one."

Hannah's arms wrapped as far around Jar-hidda as she could, holding him tightly as if he'd slip away in an instant.

" _I love you too, Jolly_."

Her voice was a shuddering whisper. She was still terrified, terrified because it was true and she could not run from it, she could only face it, and see what comes of it. But before they could do anything about how they felt, there was still one thing left to do.

"Let's get the fuck out of here."


	32. Raising Hell

When the morning shift came, they were greeted by Hannah standing at the doorway to the cage, and Jar-hidda sitting towards the back. The woman knocked on the glass to be let out, despite the presence of Dr. Nielson, looking giddy. The doctors and marines were apprehensive about letting her out, and they sent one out and waited till she came back with Fred. They wrote on a note 'no funny business,' and she shook her head. She turned and pointed at Jar-hidda sternly, pointing at him, then opening her hand with her palm towards the floor, just as one may command a dog to 'sit and stay.'

Jar-hidda tilted his head and rattled, but didn't otherwise move.

Seemingly content, but cautious, the doctor opened the cage and the marines brought up their guns, trained on both her and Jar-hidda. She walked out and made no motion to engage with them. Behind her the cage closed, and only then did the yautja stand and approach the cage wall.

"You seem to be in good spirits," Nielson said as Hannah approached Fred, "tell me _all_ about last night. What was it like?"

Nielson grabbed Hannah's arm to stop her from approaching Fred. Hannah threw her weight against the woman, causing her to slam against the wall with a small cry.

"Listen, you psychotic bitch. I didn't fuck him. I will never fuck him. You understand? Don't touch me again."

Nielson again looked betrayed by Hannah, who sneered at her and rattled in anger, before turning, her braids whipping around her shoulders and she stalked back to Fred.

"Take me back to my room."

Fred nodded, looking apologetically at Nielson and took Hannah firmly by the arm, as if assuring she would not attack again. Together, the two left, making their way to the elevator. Once inside, Fred released her arm.

"Microphones in the elevator?" she asked quietly.

"No. No Microphones anywhere but the bridge. Cameras, though, are everywhere."

"Jar-hidda knows the plan," she said, keeping her lip movements as subtle as possible, causing her to mumble slightly, while staring straight ahead, "I want to do this soon. They've already almost killed him, and Nielson is insistent that she gets what she wants, and Weyland...," she rattled, "I don't think Weyland will hesitate to kill him if we prove more trouble than we're worth."

Hannah closed her eyes and breathed deeply, "how soon can we do this?"

Fred hummed, and was silent for a bit. Hannah let him process, and when the elevator arrived at their destination, Fred took her arm in his hand again. He didn't speak again until they had arrived at the room. The marines, and everyone else that had been down the hallway, were a bit flustered by Hannah's current state of undress.

"Good Morning officers," he said pleasantly. One nodded, the other turned to open the door. Hannah and the android stepped in and Fred let her go once the door closed.

"We could move as soon as tonight, or early next morning," Fred answered, "I would need to do something drastic, and I will have to take a risk, and perhaps involve our friend Lieutenant Brody."

"He's a lieutenant now?"

Fred nodded, "seemed that his actions were deemed as worthy of extreme demotion by Weyland, despite Nielson arguing that his actions had preserved the life of the valuable alien specimen."

Hannah hummed. She'd have to thank the man when she saw him next.

Fred pondered her thoughtful expression, then smiled He stepped forward and gently touched Hannah's face, pushing her braids behind her ear. Hannah cocked an eyebrow at the android, but felt something slip over her ear, and understood.

"I'll send Lieutenant Brody up with some clothing. That will be your sign to prepare. You'll know when to start. I'll make sure Jar-hidda is left behind, meet up with him and plant the bomb, make your escape."

Hannah caught Fred's hand as he stepped back to go to leave. He stopped and Hannah thinned her lips, her eyes still on the ground. She let out a heavy breath and lifted her head, brown eyes meeting with Fred's, "thank you, Fred."

"You're welcome Hannah," his expression softened a bit, seeming even a little sad, "may I... can I get a hug?"

Hannah blinked, then smiled, "sure, but just to warn you I'm not good at them."

Fred chuckled, "you don't have to be good at hugs."

Hannah felt a bit awkward as the android embraced her, aware in the back of her mind that he had the strength to overpower her and do some real damage. His arms encircled her firmly, but he added no more pressure than that, and she relaxed.

"I wish you two the best of luck," he said quietly, "and long happy lives."

Hannah stood for a while, gingerly embracing him back, closing her eyes for a moment, "I hope one day you find peace."

Fred pulled away from Hannah, smiling at her gently, then turned and walked out of the door. When it closed Hannah looked around her room, turning and stepping towards the window, looking outside at the stars flying past. She took a deep breath, then sat, crossing her legs, closing her eyes, and meditating.

She centered herself, and remained in zazin for a number of hours, time where she did not allow for her worries or concerns for what was to come to touch her heart.

She was only brought out of her state by the sound of footsteps approaching and the door opening behind her. She stood fluidly from her position, turning at the same time to face the man holding a box, and walking forward without a single stop in her momentum.

"The way you move is creepy as hell," Brody said. Hannah smirked, stopping to stand before him, "I don't think I'll ever get used to it."

"You won't get the chance to."

"No... I guess not," he sighed, bending and setting the box down, "here's your clothes," he winked, "I grabbed what I could that I figured they wouldn't miss, maybe some things that they will," he added a bit more seriously. He looked at the box with some level of regret. Hannah's smirk faded.

"I'm sorry that you must fight between your morality, your honor and your duty."

"You know what that's like huh?" he asked, smirking himself. He sighed, "I knew something was up when you said that Weyland was an android. Lots of us were... were not very happy about being deceived this whole time but we had our orders."

He looked at the box and grit his teeth, "I guess I was never really good about walking the straight and narrow when it came to my duty."

He chuckled, smiling nervously.

"All I've got left is my son," he said, staring into Hannah's eyes, frowning, "I... I didn't like when he wanted to join the Marines with me, I told him to do something safer, get a job that would pay well, let him live on one of those luxury planets. But he wanted to be just like me. I figured that... having him near would keep him safe, I could keep an eye on him, have his back whenever he needed it. Then this shit happens just cause of some fucking alien. No offense."

Hannah tilted her head, rattling in understanding, "give him orders to assist in the evacuations, that will put him the closest to the escape shuttles in case things don't go as planned."

"Way ahead of you there," Brody drawled with a chuckle and knowing glint in his eye, "but I appreciate that you understand."

"I appreciate that you understand," she retorted, "and... thank you for your help."

Brody nodded, "I still have a duty to my men," the lieutenant stood a little straighter, "those I could trust know what's going down. Those I couldn't have been stationed nearest to the shuttles, to make sure that they know their duty is to the civilians, and won't be given any orders to hunt you down, if you're discovered. You shouldn't have any problems with the Marines, but...," he grumbled, "since it's already shown that Weyland didn't trust us, I would recommend being ready for whatever back-up plan he's got. Paranoid ass like that is bound to have prepared for a mutiny."

Hannah gave a single short nod, then watched as the man turned and walked away from her. He walked out the door, pausing to look at the two men beside him.

"We have a ship full of bugs and androids and god knows what else," he growled in a low tone. He glanced over at Hannah, then back to the men, "she makes it to her friend at all costs."

"Yes sergeant," the men said in unison.

Brody smiled back at Hannah and winked, "good luck she-devil. Give them hell."

The door shut, and she was alone.

Hannah bent to the box, opening it up. There were folded jumpsuits there to greet her, and she tossed these aside with an annoyed rattle, her hands reaching and gripping the leather of her loincloth and the course fabric of her kilts. She put the net suit on first, the clothing going on after that. Some of her armor was missing, the codpiece was there, but her breastplate and pauldrins were not. She imagined it was because the other equipment that was also missing mounted onto them: her caster and med kit. Her right-hand wristblades were there, the left-hand missing as they were mounted on the wrist-computer, but her dagger was inside, and she sheathed it on her leg. She found the Weyland mask and hand in the box, and slipped these into the trophy net on her hip, knowing that she would have difficulty mimicking Weyland's voice.

At the bottom of the box, laid diagonally so as to fit, was her combi-stick, secured underneath her mask. With reverence she lifted the mask, looking at the inside of it, lacking the complicated buttons and wires that Jar-hidda's had, the eyes made of the same clear material the ships' windows were made of, and lacking the crest. The edges of the brow were etched with slender leaf-like carvings, and the mouthpiece was shaped like three long triangles, two upside-down fitting snugly against the central upright one. It was uniquely hers, and she was glad to put it on.

She pulled the combi-stick out of the box, all but back-handing it away. She knelt and laid the stick horizontally in front of her, and sat with her back straight, staring at the door in silence.

Minutes ticked by. She was certain those manning the cameras had seen her get dressed, but no one came storming in, the noises beyond the door remained calm. She remained still, breathing deeply.

The lights went off and she was plunged into darkness. All sounds died save for those outside of shock and confusion. The air no longer blew out of the vent in the ceiling. The lights of the passing stars caused stark black shadows to flicker across the room, dancing across her body. She remained still.

A red light flooded the room, unable to penetrate into the corners, leaving them dark and her shadow against the floor darker. She remained still.

Much longer time passed, hours perhaps, she didn't know, just that it was long, long enough she wagered for them to have a meeting about what happened, determined that the damage was irreparable, and that what had done required immediate evacuation to minimize losses. She could imagine it took however long for Weyland to argue with everyone that they should remain, that the malfunction could be fixed, that the ship and the mission was not a lost cause. But Weyland was just the head of a corporation, a human corporation, worried about numbers and stocks and money and bad publicity and image, nervous about risk versus reward, and maybe, just maybe, concerned a little for the human lives in their hands.

She doubted it.

It was long enough, when she heard the sound of many feet moving in the same direction. She heard orders barked, doors opening and closing, a massive amount of bodies mingling, voices all talking creating a din of dismay. No one came for her. Her door didn't open, armed men did not attack her, no one seemed aware she was inside, waiting.

Brody or Fred must have paid someone off handsomely, or perhaps they had a friend that shared their concerns. Either way, the sounds of life moved passed her, leaving her in silence. Unmoving. Bathed in crimson light. Surrounded by shadows.

Her hand reached forward and she grabbed her combi-stick, extending it as she rose to her feet and approached the door in a single motion. She gripped the handle and it slid easily open. She stepped forward, seeing one man to either side of her as she walked between them, and then past them, without stopping. They began to follow in step behind her, guns held in their arms. She didn't look at them, only led them down the hallway, towards where she knew the elevators to be. Her ears were alert, painfully aware of how much noise the marines were making; the rustling of their uniforms, the beating of their boots against the smooth floor, the gentle clinking of dogtags, a skittering sound like claws against metal.

Hannah made the hand-sign to stop, the yautja version of it, but it was luckily an easy enough command as to be universal, and the men stopped behind her. She listened intently, rattled softly, her head moving in short slow staccato movements as she looked at the ceiling, then around her, then back behind her to the marines.

The two looked around themselves, before looking at her, unable to hear what she was hearing.

"What is it?"

The screeching sound of metal tore through the air. Plaster fell from the ceiling, cracking against the floor, and the vent cover crashed to the ground, along with it, a long thing black writhing serpent, tail darting back and forth as it righted itself, eyeless carapace landing on the three.

Hannah roared.

It screamed.


	33. Enemy Mine

"Hannah, who's screaming?" Fred's voice came through at her ear. She didn't have time to answer. The black serpent began to rush forward, long claws raking against the tile.

The marines next to her opened fire screaming "bug!"

Hannah extended her combistick and stepped forward as the kainde amedha approached, but she hesitated. Everything she had been told about the creatures flooded back to her, and perhaps the most important detail was that their blood was extremely acidic. One-on-one combat was a bad idea. She remembered Jar-hidda using his caster to kill the creatures while the two of them retreated to the Kut'kuni. She thought at the time that it had been a dishonorable act, but maybe there were different rules for engaging against the serpents.

Without further hesitation, Hannah activated her combistick and grabbed one of the arrows. She put it to the string and pulled it back, only having time for a fraction of a breath before she fired it at the kainde amedha.

The lone creature finally collapsed to the ground, nearly at their feet. It was riddled with holes from the onslaught, and one thin silver sliver was buried into its crest. The putrid yellow blood was melting into the tile floor, giving off an acrid odor. The marines had not been missing their marks, and neither had Hannah hers. The creature had just been _that_ adamant to get to them, that it had persevered through a hail of death.

Hannah approached the corpse, noting that her arrow was slowly sinking into the skull, and counted it as a loss.

"There's more of them," Hannah said simply, de-activating her combistick. She thought for a moment to take the head of the kainde amedha, but in a split second concluded it was not her kill, as the marines had fired first. It would only weigh her down anyway. She turned and ran down the hallway.

"What do you mean there are more!?" the marine demanded.

"Hannah what's going on?" Fred asked in her ear.

"The kainde amedha are loose," Hannah breathed.

"Kind ay amayd ha?" one of the marines struggled with the words and Hannah glanced at him.

"What you called a bug."

"Weyland must have released them once evacuations were ordered," Fred growled quietly, "he's not about to abandon this plan of his. He'll drag us all to that homeworld as xenomorphs ourselves if he has to."

"They'll go after you?" she asked, turning and pressing her back to the wall where a hallway converged, so that she could look past it without exposing herself to unnecessary risks.

"No," Fred admitted, "not me. They may destroy me as a perceived threat, but they wouldn't try to impregnate me."

Impregnate.

Hannah stopped and stared ahead at nothing for a moment. Fireblood's words echoing back to her from long ago: tesdae, the host for an infant kainde amedha, a dishonorable way to die.

"... I think that was Weyland's plan all along," she whispered, "that's why they're on the ship..."

"Hey, I've got orders to keep you alive till we get your ugly friend," said one of the marines, breaking into her vision, "but I'd sure as hell like to know what's going on."

Hannah's vision focused on the man, tanned skin like hers, black hair, blue eyes. His nameplate on his armor read 'Weldon." Hannah looked to the other marine, ochre-colored skin, black hair, and black eyes curved with a fold on the inner corners. He was seemingly much more calm than his fellow, looking to her for the same answers. He was an older man, not as old as Brody, but he had the look of someone who had been in service a long while.

His name was Markley.

"Weyland was housing these kaind— these xenomorphs in the bottom of the ship, in a sort of cryostasis," she explained quietly, "he's woken them up and let them out."

Weldon cursed, Markley simply tipped his chin down, "he's pissed. He wants revenge."

Revenge. It was a concept so old to her that it was foreign. Revenge was for bad bloods, dishonorable, no one in their right mind would think of it.

With a short breath, Hannah recalled the look in Weyland's eyes, the one that reminded her of Ret'pure-wu.

"We have to get to Jar-hidda," she said quickly, checking down the hallway again before moving past. Everything was beginning to fall into place, and she didn't like the story that was being told, "Fred, you better get the people down there onto those shuttles quickly. You're the largest group of life right now and if they want hosts for their babies they're gonna go to the place with the biggest selection to choose from."

"How many bugs are there?" Markley asked, Hannah looked back at him, thinking back to the floor and the rooms.

"At least forty, including the mother."

"Your have three arrows," Markley stated, and offered Hannah his side-arm.

Hannah looked at it. It had been a while since she had fired a gun, a long while. With some hesitation she took the firearm and looked it over. It wasn't too different from her mother's cheetah.

"You know how to use that right?" Markley added. She nodded, and the marine checked his rifle. Hannah retracted her combi-stick and put it on her hip.

Weldon cursed under his breath again, then looked at Hannah squarely, "so how the hell is your friend going to help us against a small hive of bugs?"

Hannah's eyes hardened.

"My friend has a bomb that can wipe this place and the kain— the bugs out. But only he knows how to use it. We get him, he arms it, we all escape, the bugs die."

Weldon nodded, unimpressed, "sounds like a solid plan. How do you plan to get to the labs without a keycard?"

Hannah's arm flexed, feeling the tension of her muscles against the trigger of her wristblades.

"I'll carve a hole through the floor if I have to."

"You won't have to," Fred's whispered, "just get to the elevator and I'll walk you through what to do."

"Fred says to just get to the elevator," she said quietly and turned, heading further down.

She paused occasionally when she heard noise. But moments of silence passed without another kainde amedha showing up, and they would continue. At one point, concerned about all the silence, Hannah stopped them and crouched, placing her ear to the ground. She heard the hum of the mechanical organs of the ship struggling to turn out the emergency power, but heard no distinct sound of claws, or skittering or even the weight of footsteps.

"Where are they?" Hannah mused quietly, getting back to her feet.

"You said forty," Markley responded, Hannah nodded, "even if you put one bug on each floor of this ship, there would be empty floors. We killed one, and one is the queen, who... if she is brooding, won't be able to move. That's thirty eight left on a massive ship."

"You've seen this before," Hannah looked to him. She saw it in his eyes, the pain of the past as he was reliving it now.

His eyes leveled on her, "and as you said, they will likely go where there are more bodies, rather than bother with just the three of us, at least, not until there are more of them."

More of them.

"Fred," she said in warning.

"I know the danger," said the voice in her ear, "I've relayed the message to Sergeant Brody. He'll be here, we have marines here. Focus on your mission. If hell breaks loose, we will save as many as we can. But Hannah," his voice stopped, then returned lower, "if all else fails... stopping the infestation takes priority above all else. We can't let what happened to Earth happen anywhere else."

Hannah saw the elevator, but in her mind, Alexa's words returned to her, the woman holding her as Hannah was bleeding out, watching Jar-hidda surrounded by armed soldiers as he moved to input code into his wrist-computer.

 _If the hunter fails, nothing survives_

"I understand."

Recklessly, though confident in Markley's words, Hannah abandoned caution and moved to the elevator, holstering the gun in her hand in her belt, next to the combi-stick.

"Alright Fred I'm at the elevator."

"The ship is in distress mode, which means that the elevators will require a manual bypass," Fred explained in her ear. Hannah also heard the marines taking up position next to her, facing away and each looking down opposite directions of the hallway.

"You have a code then?"

"I have all the codes," Fred sounded almost haughty. Hannah smirked, and he continued, "alright, do you see the panel for the palm reader?"

"Yes."

"Use the hand Brody gave you to scan."

Hannah reached into her trophy net and pulled out the robotic hand. The panel, rather than a blue light moving across the hand, flashed red, and a female mechanical voice, far, far too loud, announced, "USS Turqouise using emergency power. Enter authorization code to re-activate elevators."

Hannah and the marines all recovered from their battle-ready stances, once there was no sign of kainde amedha attacking.

"A panel should have slid back revealing a keyboard," Fred's voice said, quietly. She could guess the changes in his volume and periods of silence were due to his proximity to people. He was likely worried about who would overhear him talking to himself, giving guidance to some unseen force.

Hannah moved back to the panel and saw that there was a small keyboard device set above the hand-reader.

"The code is alfa, hotel, two, zero, eight, bravo, seven, Charlie, Sierra, two, five, echo, kilo, November."

It took Hannah a second to realize she wasn't supposed to be typing out the words he was saying, but that he was using the phonetic alphabet used by the military. It had been a very long time since she had heard it used, having been taught it by her mother, who was the only one she knew to use it with Hannah.

"Alright," Hannah said, removing the gun from her belt once the code was entered in. Nothing happened for a moment, and then the elevator opened with a chime that pierced the silence.

Her and the Marines aimed their weapons inside of it, but there was only Mother to tell them, "the elevator has been reactivated for emergency use only."

"Think this counts as an emergency?"

Hannah turned her gaze slowly to the man. His nerves were showing.

Still holding theirs guns, the three of them entered and Hannah selected the number seven. As the elevator descended, her mind began to wander; the ship was a small floating city. Weyland had intentionally bred dozens of the kainde amedha and then froze them, then brought them along on a trip to go to the world where they supposedly originated. A world that Jar-hidda thought might be the home of the people the yautja had warred with millennia ago.

What could he possibly hope to gain from all that?

"You're thinking awfully hard about something."

Hannah looked to Weldon again.

"Trying to understand my enemy," she said simply, and Markley snickered.

"One of your enemy is insane, and the other a monster, if you understand either of them, I'm very worried about you."

Hannah clicked in amusement, "as you should be."

The elevator opened and guns were held at the ready again as the three made their way out, the marines in the lead. Hannah tapped Markley's shoulder and pointed at the room with their equipment. It would be better to stop on the way and have Jar-hidda's thing for him, than to stop after. That would leave him less exposed once they let him out of the cage, especially with the kainde amedha waiting to possibly strike at any time.

The marine acknowledged with a small nod and gestured to Weldon. The group turned towards the room, bathed in red light. Markley opened the door and Weldon slipped in, followed by Hannah. Markley followed after and the three stopped dead. They stared ahead in silence.

Weyland sat against the edge of one of the tables, fiddling with the wrist computer in his hand, detached from its chassis.

"Hello Hannah," he said, looking up at her with a smile, holding up the rectangular device, "looking for this?"

Hannah moved past the marines, her hand held to signal them to not fire. She didn't know what would happen if the computer was damaged. She didn't want to risk the ship imploding while there were still people on it to get onto the shuttles. She owed at least that much to Fred and Brody: buy them as much time as possible.

Weyland smirked, his eyes dropping back to the computer, toying with it like it was some kind of rubix cube, before setting it down on the table beside him and standing to his full height.

"Don't think for a second that I don't know what you've done here. That you're behind all this. I'm still trying to figure out who all helped pull it off, though. I know Marisha didn't. Lieutenant Brody definitely had a part but," he eyed the marines, "there's no way he had everything he needed for you to make it this far."

Hannah's fingers on her gun flexed and then curled again. Weyland smiled, then looked at the table again, eyeing the things on it, then reached, lifted and set down a sleek pistol.

"I think this one would be more your speed, don't you think?"

Hannah's eyes landed on the pistol without her head moving at all, then they flicked back at Weyland.

"You know, I remember your mother, through Charles' memories, that is," Weyland tapped the cheetah, Hannah bristled, "remarkable woman, always prepared for the worst. She kept him alive through a lot of dire situations; the Congo, Mexico, Syria. Wherever he went for his humanitarian efforts, she was the spear against the gnashing teeth of the predators trying to tear him apart.

"All except Bouvetoya."

Hannah rattled a warning. Weyland laughed.

"Tell you what, Hannah. This life-long conflict between my family and you needs to come to an end, don't you agree?"

Hannah shifted as Weyland moved away from the table, placing himself in the largest space available in the room.

"Let's end this once and for all."

He gestured with his hands for her to approach. A quick once-over told her that he wasn't armed, and she holstered her pistol.

"What are you doing?" Markle demanded incredulously.

" _Jehdin-jehdin_ ," she rumbled, rattling as she stepped forward, facing Weyland.

He grinned at her and her voice came out as a hiss between her teeth, glowering at her enemy, "he's mine."


	34. Apex Predator

This would be unlike any fight she would have had. Against animals she had her weapons, against yautja she had the knowledge of their tactics, against an unarmed human, she had next to nothing.

The Path dictated that one had to bring oneself as close to the level of one's opponent as possible. Weyland was human and unarmed. Human as Hannah was there was no denying her augmentations, so the most she could do was be unarmed as well.

She stood ready for combat, crouched, feet spread, hands held ready and open, ready to be made into fists or deflect blows. She had no idea if Weyland had any sort of formal training in hand to hand combat, she doubted it, but it was always unwise to underestimate one's opponent.

Hannah felt the urge to begin to circle, as a fight would go with a yautja, but the lab didn't have the room for that, so she stayed put.

Weyland laughed at her, then shifted, spreading his own feet and lifting his fists chin level.

Boxer.

She had the advantage that her fighting style was one that would never have been seen on Earth before; he had no idea what was coming. He was sorely mistaken if he was thinking she would allow this to be a close-quarters fight.

Crouching a bit more, she rattled, tilting her head to one side and eyeing him.

He simply smirked.

"Shame that you hide that pretty face of yours behind a mask like that."

Tactics. He was goading her.

She didn't respond, moving a foot to step to the side. A glance told her that the marines were still there, watching, confused and angered by this decision of hers, but she didn't care. She just hoped that one of them didn't get a wild hair and interfere.

Weyland's smirk faded, his eyes following as she took another step to the side, then another. He didn't move as she got closer, and that unnerved her. He was either overconfident in his abilities, or he knew something she didn't. Her best guess was that he had a weapon, most likely a gun, hidden on his body somewhere; a trump card to disable her so that he could beat on her as he pleased.

The closer she got, the more she was assured this was the case.

He was smirking again.

Neither of them were willing to make the first move, and Hannah's entire fighting style revolved around using her opponent's strength against them, being faster, and being smaller; reacting to her opponent's actions rather than making her own. It usually didn't end well if she made the first move, that's how Jar-hidda usually won their spars.

Finally, with maybe only six or so feet between the two of them, Hannah stopped moving, and crouched, waiting for Weyland's move.

He chuckled.

"I'm right here," he offered, "come get me."

It was definitely a trap. She had to rethink her tactics. Her new plan: break his limbs, beginning with his leg. There was still the matter of him attacking first though and getting a gauge on his movements. She realized she was too close for that, and took two steps back. Weyland laughed and stepped forward.

That was her in. She quickly began backing away and he kept coming forward, not wanting to lose the distance between them.

"Running away are we?"

Hannah rattled. There wasn't a whole lot of room to keep this up, but luckily the new angle she was at would let her retreat down the length of the room rather than backing up into the marines. She wove around the tables and put them between her and the man. Increasing the distance between them. It would take him time to move around the table himself, granting her a few more seconds to switch gears and attack.

Weyland stepped forward and put his hand on the table, and all of her carefully laid plans and strategies flew away, like the table that Weyland lifted with a single hand and threw to the side. The clamor of alien metal on human tile drowned out any other noise as Weyland rushed at her. She didn't hear his malicious battle cry, nor the beat of his feet on the ground. She looked into the man's eyes and saw the life and insanity in them, until her vision spun as his fist came down on her head.

Her hand reflexively caught her from falling to the ground, and she shifted to move to put distance between them, but her wrist was caught and she was yanked back, then thrown from her position against the wall. She hit the ground winded, coughing, and immediately moving, not even seeing the direction she somersaulted to, but heard Weyland's next strike hit the ground instead of her.

She was on her feet and facing her opponent in a moment, her hands held ready though her vision was swimming slightly.

He was not an android, his eyes betrayed his status as an actual living thing, but he hit like a yautja. Something was very, very wrong. She couldn't afford to be bewildered though, she had to keep moving, keep thinking and observing. She danced from the balls of her feet, catching Weyland in her vision and moving backwards. She stopped, crouched, rattled in confusion as she prepared for his charge.

He started forward, but once he saw that Hannah was ready for him, he stopped short, chuckling again.

"Look at you," he condescended, "you move like them, you sound like them..."

Hannah watched him as he turned, walking to the side as if to circle her, but she did not allow it, matching his position, as he moved around the room.

"But you're _not_ one of them, are you?"

Hannah clicked a warning and rattled again.

"I know what you're thinking," he continued, stopping and turning to her again, "'I'm more like them than you are,'" he chuckled and shook his head, then charged suddenly.

His feet pounded the floor and Hannah was ready, despite her breath still being a bit short. This charge told her she was correct in thinking that he didn't really know how to fight, at least not well. He was broadcasting his moves with his right arm raised and fist clenched. The way his body turned told her exactly where the punch was going, and when it came down she wasn't there.

Her shoulder found his solar plexus and she heard the wind rush out of him. She followed this with a sudden righting of herself, and the top of her head cracked against the underside of his jaw. She retreated quickly, putting distance between the two of them and readying herself again.

Weyland leaned against one of the tables, fingers gripping his jaw and working it back and forth, a little bit of something like surprise in his eyes.

"Impressive," he laughed, leaning away from the table, "I guess there is a reason the Predators failed in killing you after all this time."

Hannah rattled, shifting her feet to circle him again, watching as Weyland removed his coat and tossed it to the side. He came at her again, slower, this time fists raised to protect his center. Snarling, Hannah moved back, keeping aware that this moved her closer to the Marines.

When he closed into her space, he threw a right hook and she shifted out of the way, her braids smacking against her shoulder as she returned with a jab. He blocked and her fist felt like it hit a wall. He jabbed at her from his defensive position and she turned to let it go past, trying to fit herself into the small opening he had created between his outstretched arm and the one still held near to her. Her fist hit his face, but it was at the cost of existing in a space that he controlled.

His arm retracted and his elbow slammed into her shoulder. She buckled under the impact slightly and moved to retreat, but his hand clapped the side of her head, hitting hard enough to make her ear ring. His hand then found her throat. The ground vanished beneath her feet as he took two steps forward and slammed her against the wall, next to the glass window.

She was immediately unable to breathe, his hand pressing the rings around her neck into her windpipe. Her hands went to his arm, where she knew nerves and tendons were to try to get him to release.

Glowing blood smeared her knuckles with bright green. She stopped and stared at the stain, then her eyes turned to Weyland. The back of his free hand rubbed at the underside of his nose, looking at the alien blood.

He chuckled, "nice hit."

The bottom of Hannah's sandal impacted Weyland's face as he turned to smirk at her again. His grip loosened and Hannah tore his hand away from her, dodging to the side the moment her feet hit the ground. She turned to look at Weyland, reeling from the strike, more of the green blood coming from his nose.

"Bitch."

"What have you done to yourself?" Hannah snarled. His eyes met hers, his brow bent in rage. He slowly eased, laughing and wiping the blood off on the sleeve of his shirt.

"Their blood has the ability to extend the human lifespan by one hundred years. More accurately it temporarily retards the aging process by acting as some kind of super-antioxidant, or something like that. Marisha would be able to explain it better if she were here."

Weyland smirked, shifting and beginning to undo his shirt, "this isn't new, various people from Earth's history stumbled on this one way or another; a man from ancient China, a Japanese warrior, a tribe in Africa, hell, there was even this one hillbilly once that lived well past one-hundred."

Weyland shrugged out of his shirt, holding it in his hand before dropping it to the ground, unceremoniously.

"But they merely ate the predators they managed to defeat. Now, Hunter Borgia," Weyland tisked and shook his head with a smile, "he had a long-term plan in mind. You see..."

Weyland stepped forward, and Hannah stepped back, rattling in warning. Weyland's body was wrong, it was too big, dark freckles trailed down his shoulders and arms, down the center of his body. Little hairs had begun to grow in an all-too familiar pattern along his shoulders and abdomen.

"Consuming the blood or flesh only gives you a hundred years. Without a reoccurring source, once that hundred years is up, you start aging again, time slipping away from you as quickly as it had once done. Just before Weyland Industries acquired Borgia Industries, Borgia had, more or less, successfully grafted Predator DNA into his own, making him something else, making him... well, this."

Weyland stopped and spread his arms, presenting himself as his example, smiling wickedly.

"Borgia didn't fully complete his transition, and to my understanding that ultimately lead to his death, but all the information was in his computers. We took it, analyzed it, many deemed it too risky, too... inhuman or too unnatural to do and more or less hid it away. But I'm on to something _big_. And for that I need _time_ , time no one else in my family had, time that so far has slipped away and that I'll never get back. But this," he reached out an arm, running his hand down the length of it, "this will give me plenty of time. Plus some added bonuses, as I'm sure you've experienced by now."

"You're fucked up," Hannah sneered.

Weyland growled, "don't be a hypocrite," he then smirked and cackled, "the only way you could have lived this long is if you've been drinking the thing's blood too."

Hannah frowned, remembering what Jar-hidda had signed, what he had told her.

She didn't argue.

"In fact," Weyland shifted, relaxing as he spoke, but it was a ploy, Hannah could see that he was still ready to fight, "Marisha, I couldn't have done it without her really, but she thought there had to be another way to get the same results I have here, without the risky, lengthy and expensive inoculation and medical procedures."

Hannah kept still as he talked, her eyes moving over him, looking for anything, any subtle sign of weakness, any hint that he was favoring an old injury, _anything_ that she may be able to exploit in the fight, but she was coming up empty, and Weyland was still talking.

"She theorized that the similarities in DNA point to a common ancestor, most likely the Engineers, as she came up with similar results as what had been reported from The Prometheus. She ultimately concluded that the DNA was close enough to put the Predators in the same genus as us. Her findings, and the fact that DNA can be successfully spliced, gives a higher probability that a hybrid could be conceived naturally, circumventing the risks, time and costs. Whatever usual infertility of said hybrids issues could be medically dealt with. The only issue would be to get what we needed to artificially inseminate such a hybrid, or somehow get a human and yautja to... well..."

Weyland chuckled, Hannah ceased her frantic study of his form and glared, "so you can understand, she was beyond ecstatic to meet you and your beast. But... I'm a bit with you on the idea that... _natural_ hybridization would just be...," he huffed in amusement, "wrong. And of course there's the fact that the possibility of the next generation being hybrids, doesn't exactly help me in the here and now."

"You like to talk."

Weyland paused in his speech and slowly eyed Hannah. She sneered behind her mask.

"Stop talking _h_ _ac'nikt_."

He apparently didn't need to be asked twice. With a deep frown full of hatred he closed the distance between them. His center was open in his rush, but Hannah learned from the last mistake, his arms were up and ready and if he grabbed her, she would lose her advantage.

Instead, as he thundered near, she dodged quickly to the side, whirling around him as his momentum carried him past her, and she turned and punched his side. She was rewarded with a cry as she hopped back and put distance between them again. Weyland favored his side for only a moment before putting his arms up and advancing more slowly, one foot always forward.

She crouched down as he came near, rattling. Once he was close he threw a punch and Hannah lifted an arm to sweep it away, throwing her fist at him in turn, but it smacked against the side of his forearm. He returned with a second strike, and Hannah ducked under it, feeling his arm sweep through her braids. She doubled back, separating from him and stepped to the side. He followed her this time, still with his fists up, Hannah holding her arm to her center, the other to her side as they circled each other.

Seemed he was testing different approaches and adapting as well. He knew he wasn't going to catch her, so he was slowing down, turning it into a game of who can take the most punishment. He was more skilled than she thought.

She rattled, eyeing his body, the strange twisted combination of alien and human. Muscles were not where they should be, more square, less round. She couldn't even begin to imagine where his internal organs would be in order to be more precise with her strikes. His age showed in the looseness of his skin over these muscles, showing a deceptive weakness where none seemed to actually exist.

Her eyes flicked back to his, seeing that he was smirking behind his fists.

"Like what you see? Maybe Marisha was on to something about you and your friend."

"What did I say about talking!" she snarled tersely through her teeth. She decided to go for his kidneys, or at least where his kidneys _should_ be as a human. She stepped forward and so did he, leading with one foot and dragging the other behind him. She saw his muscles bunch in preparation for a strike, and changed course. Feinting to one side, she turned and leapt onto the table, using the elevation to jump behind Weyland and strike at his back. A sharp cry was her reward, but so was a sudden spin and a solid back-hand that felt like she was being clothes-lined with a tree.

Her feet fell out from under her and her back hit the ground. The moment it did she spun to her side, rolling, disorientating herself and lifting into a crouch, her foot sweeping behind her. A split second after her eyes landed on Weyland she shot forward like a bullet, throwing her shoulder against his knee. She heard a crack, but he didn't go down like she was hoping. He screamed, then sent a jab shooting at her back. He hit her spine twice in rapid succession before she could even recover, then grabbed the back of her neck and threw her into the table she had used, scattering more tech with a crystalline clamor.

She pushed herself up among the sound of bells, shaking her head and her braids, before getting up. Weyland stalked towards her with a confident stride.

Idiot.

She sacrificed power to take opportunity of the opening he had created, starting at a run from her half-bent position and throwing her weight and momentum into a strike directly to his sternum. He stumbled backwards a single step, and she turned with a strike from her other fist.

Before she could get another hit in, a hook came from her side and hit her head like a hammer. It threw her off balance just a bit, her foot moving to catch herself, only to be struck again. Her hand moved out and her wrist was caught. She had the sensation of flying for a moment before she found her back against the ground, staring at the ceiling, wracked with pain. Her mask hit the ground and slid away from her. She was certain her shoulder was dislocated. She shifted to move, but Weyland dragged her back by her arm, and his foot came down on her chest, and she cried out.

"There we go," he snarled, his grip on her arm tightening as he dug his heel against her sternum, "that's what I like to hear."

Weyland twisted her arm in her hands, and Hannah heard and felt her bones break.

She screamed.

"Look at you now," Weyland's voice hissed as her arm clawed and struck at his leg, "just an old woman, playing at being a big tough Predator."

Hannah heard he marine's voices, but what they said she couldn't tell. She grit her teeth against the pain and the tears streaming out of her eyes and into her braids. She gripped his ankle and yelled out in anguish, backed by fury. Weyland's confident smirk flashed to a look of surprise as she began to push his weight off of her chest.

He frowned.

"No."

His foot lifted a hair's breadth and stomped back down on her chest. She coughed. He threw his whole body into twisting her arm. There was a pop at her shoulder, and then a searing pain that deafened her to everything else in existence, and her arm lifted away from her, gripped tightly in Weyland's claws. Drops of blood caught the hue of the crimson lights as it fell from the end of her arm, appearing black in the dim light. Black poured out onto the ground beneath her from her shoulder as she turned to her side, screaming.

Weyland kicked her back onto her back as her hand gripped furiously to stop the bleeding. She flinched as he beat her twice with the bloody end of her arm.

He was laughing.

Gunfire ripped through the air and bright green blood began to flow down Weyland's body.

"Well you little shits," he cursed tossing Hannah's arm away. It smacked against the ground where it lay among the menagerie of yautja tech, and Hannah looked at it with eyes wide.

Weyland grabbed a table and threw it at the two marines before charging them. The two dodged out of the way of the table as it smashed against the wall, and kept firing at him. But just like with Jar-hidda the bullets seemed to mean very little. He tore the gun out of Markley's hands and grabbed the front of his vest, pulling him back and swinging him against the window of the room, shattering it and sending him flying outside. He went after Weldon next, smacking the gun away and grabbing the marine by his neck. Weldon went for his side-arm.

"Oh no you don't," Weyland growled reaching for the gun and wresting it away from Weldon. He tossed it to the side and drew his arm back for a punch. But his wrist was caught and with a scream, Hannah pulled him off balance, and then turned her whole body, throwing all of her weight into throwing him to the ground. She stood over him in the puddle of her own blood, teeth bared, black streaking down the side of her body.

"You turned your back on me," she snarled.

"You..." Weyland stared at her from the ground, "you just don't know when you're dead do you!?"

Hannah roared.

Weyland shifted to stand, but Hannah had positioned him intentionally. His hands found purchase to the ground difficult, and he slipped on her blood, giving Hannah enough time to grab and extend the combistick from her belt and plunge it through his body, into the tile.

Weyland screamed and stared at the protruding weapon, shaking hands slowly coming to grip it.

"You... you used a weapon!" he yelled, as Hannah walked around him, "you fought dishonorably! What about the code!?"

Hannah sneered, dropping so that her knee pressed into his chest, bracing herself against the ground with her one hand.

"I'm not yautja," she hissed, mere inches from his face.

She reared back, her hand lifting from the ground, fingers gripping a smart disk. With a sharp jab, the blade went through Weyland's neck, sticking into the floor.

The man's arms when limp as green blood began to stream into the blackness of her own. Her fingers slipped out of the holes of the disk, and she stood slowly to her feet, staring down at his corpse.

She tilted her head up, roaring in victory.


	35. Descent

As the last of her breath left her, she wavered slightly, before sinking to the ground, hand clutching at her wound.

"Hannah, are you injured?" Fred's voice asked over the earpiece. His silence during her fight had been a blessing, the last thing she needed was him distracting her during combat. She had a suspicion it was intentional, and he knew what had happened.

"I've been dismembered," she replied calmly.

"Fuck," she heard a voice as she tightly closed her eyes, "fuck, fuck, I knew we should have done something sooner, fuck."

"Fuck," Hannah echoed, almost amused before rattling, "calm own."

"You're arm's off!"

"Panicking isn't going to help," she snarled, shooting a sharp eye at him. Her entire body was shivering.

Weldon hissed a breath, and let out a huff of air, "what do you need?"

"The med kit."

He was off, and Hannah shifted from her knees to sitting on the floor cross-legged, focusing on her breathing instead of the pain.

Weldon returned with the kit and Markley, looking cut up himself. Hannah took the kit and opened it, taking out the burning plate. She set it down and opened it, getting it started.

"I need solids," she hissed, "glass, ceramic, plaster, s-something."

Markley nodded and made his way back to the window to grab the glass he had been thrown through. Weldon looked around and began to grab pieces of the tile cracked from the fight. The two marines put what they had into the blue flame and Hannah poured the blue catalyst into it. While that melted she snatched tools from the kit, grabbing the antiseptic first and snarling as she poured it onto the wound.

She grabbed and set aside the health shard, and grabbed the small flat knife, stirring around the blue gel that had formed in the burner and gathering some on the knife.

She held her breath, and placed it against her shoulder. She tried to hold in the scream but it came out anyway.

The two men looked at her, then her equipment, seemingly lost for what to do.

It took nearly the entire amount of blue gel to cover the whole wound, and by the end of it, Hannah jabbed half of the health shard into her chest, and curled into a ball, brow pressed to the blood-covered tile and loudly cursing every living thing in the universe that wasn't Jar-hidda.

She even cursed herself.

As she uncurled, her eyes landed on Weyland's head. Her face twisted in loathing and she reached for her trophy, gripping it by its hair and maneuvering it into the net at her side. She then moved and put everything back into the med-kit, the pain mostly subsiding. She moved to get to her feet, and hands were there to help her up.

"J-jar-hidda's things," she stated calmly. She leaned against Markley as Weldon grabbed whatever Hannah pointed out to him, loading himself up with weapons and equipment.

"Why'd you fight him?" Markley's voice murmured smoothly.

Hannah didn't even look at him, watching as the younger marine gathered things.

"Because I'm not human e-either."

She didn't expect the marine to understand, but she appreciated his silent nod he gave.

"I'm not going to be very good in a fight holding all this shit," he commented.

"Jar-h-hidda's nearby, you w-won't be carrying his stuff for long."

"Wait," Weldon bent down and scooped a black shape from the ground. Hannah blinked slow and leveled her gaze on the weapon.

"This is a human gun, why's it here?"

Hannah stared for a bit, before breathing deeply, "Beretta 84FS Ch-cheetah... it's mine."

The Marine looked at her, then looked at the gun, ejected the magazine, counted the bullets and put the magazine back in.

"Take your gun back M-markley, I'll carry that one."

The man slipped away from her and she caught her balance, holding out her hand and taking the gun. Markley took his from her belt and she slipped the cheetah into it's place.

"Let's go," she commanded, looking to the door.

"What about your arm?" Weldon asked, looking at the appendage on the ground.

"L-leave it," Hannah rattled, "I have a-another one."

Markley lent her his shoulder again. She leaned on him as they left the room, walking over broken glass and down the hallway to the room there. Weldon opened the door and aimed his gun inside, before motioning silently to proceed. Hannah and Markley walked in after him, the red light making the shadows a stark black around the room.

A shape moved from within the cage, and Hannah leaned away from Markley, gripping his shoulder and taking a step forward. The too-pale form lifted and stood, naked body pressing against the clear cage door and looking pitifully at the group there.

Jar-hidda was no where to be seen, and in his place was Nielson.

Hannah let out a roar and charged, smashing her good shoulder against the door. The doctor stumbled back against the wall, face twisted in agony.

"Where is he!?" Hannah snarled, slapping the glass, "WHERE IS HE!?"

Nielson only shook her head, pathetic, afraid, looking like she had been crying. Hannah rattled and smacked the door one more time, before walking away, holding her shoulder.

"Fuck," Weldon angrily swept some equipment from a table, "what do we do now!?"

Hannah breathed, trying to figure things out. If Jar-hidda wasn't here, had he managed to escape? If so, where was he? There was no damage to the elevator doors so he hadn't forced them, and all his weapons and armor was still there. She could only conclude that he hadn't escaped, but rather he had been moved.

"F-fred," Hannah whispered, turning her back to a wall and sliding down it, "Jar-hidda's not h-here."

There was silence for a bit in response, the background noise of the voices of people chatting while being boarded onto the shuttles had turned into a hiss. Hannah's eyes opened and she leaned forward as she started hears a cry of fear, then someone crying, then screaming and gunfire.

Then Fred's voice came through evenly.

"Hannah, they're here."

Hannah looked up at the marines, listening to the chaos erupt in her ear. It didn't take her long to figure what she needed to do.

"New plan," she growled, bracing her hand against the wall to stand, "th-the bomb, give it to me."

"Bomb?"

Hannah pointed at Jar-hidda's wrist computer in Weldon's hand, and he looked at it, "you said this was a timer!"

"I-t is, i-it's a wrist computer that controls almost e-everything a yautja has in his arsenal, y-you can set it to overload to deal with really big problems, like the gro-owing one we have."

Weldon stepped forward and looked at the wrist computer already on Hannah's wrist.

"Mine doesn't," she said bluntly, extending her arm, "Jar-h-hidda's is too large for my wrist, but i-it should fit on my bicep."

Weldon nodded and set down the rest of what was in his arm and moved over, sliding the wrist computer over her own and then up her arm. With her guidance he pressed the button that allowed the device to adjust to her arm, though it still felt loose.

"Alright," she sighed, "h-help me carry what I can."

The two marines worked with little input from her, strapping and setting weapons and gear where she directed and where they fit. Now fully armored, she also carried Jar-hidda's glaive, two of his burners in addition to one of her own, and the shoulder armor he'd need to hold the burners. His mask was in her trophy net along with his other gauntlet. Everything else would weigh her down, and already disadvantaged as she was, she couldn't afford to be slow with the kainde amedha running around. As much as she didn't want to, she ordered the rest to be left on the ground.

"I-if I find him, we can come ba-ack for it," she assured the marines, "these are the es-ssentials."

"Alright," Weldon said, dusting off his hands, "now what?"

"Let her out."

The marine blinked rapidly at her snarl, then looked over at the naked woman in the cage. He gave her a side-ways glance and Hannah nodded. Markley took the initiative and stepped to the panel inspecting it before tapping on the buttons. Hannah walked up to the door and Nielson backed away. There was a tense moment of silence before the door opened and Hannah rushed in amid the pleading cries of the woman.

She grabbed Nielson by the hair as she tried to run around her, then dragged her to the ground so that she could position her to be grabbed by the back of the neck. Standing the sobbing scientist up, Hannah growled as she marched her out.

"So this is the plan you two," she snarled, walking right out of the room and towards the elevator, Weldon snatching up the scientist's clothes as they walked, "they need y-you at the evacuation floor, the kainde amedha are attacking and w-we need to get as many people off this ship be-efore there are more of them. We're going to go back up, w-we're going to split up, you're going to go join your ranks in fighting the kainde amedha, Nielson and I a-are going to go to where they're coming from."

Weldon and Markley looked at each other before glancing at Hannah, "we were ordered to make sure you found your buddy."

"He's not here," she growled, "and... I suspect I-I know what happened to him. If I'm right, I pla-an on dying on this ship with him. You two don't need to sh-share in that fate."

Markley stopped as they approached the elevator, Weldon taking Nielson from Hannah and dragging her to the panel to get it working and to get her dressed.

"You think he's been taken?" Markley asked.

"Jar-hidda w-wouldn't have left his things here, especially not the bomb, i-it was integral to our plan," Hannah rattled slowly, "the only reason h-he w-would have left this here, is if he was taken below."

Markley looked over at Weldon and the crying Nielson, "she may know something."

"I considered that too, l-luckily she and I will have s-some time to talk on the way there."

The elevator doors opened to Nielson's inputs and Weldon dragged her inside. Hannah and Markley entered and Hannah leaned against the wall, steadying her breathing and trying to get her shaking under control. Nielson's makeup-streaked eyes looked at Hannah, the scientist herself shaking. Hannah saw the question in her eyes, but merely growled. Nielson's eyes looked to the wound, and then dropped to Hannah's hip at the net dripping with barely glowing blood.

She gave out a shriek and retreated back into Weldon, begging, "no! Please don't! Don't let her please!"

Hannah snarled, "you best be quiet, Nielson. The la-ast thing I need is the kainde amedha c-coming after us because you couldn't shut up."

The elevator opened and Hannah stepped forward, gripping the woman's arm and taking her from Weldon. Nielson whimpered but kept relatively silent as they stepped out into the crimson-lit hallway.

Hannah looked down both ways before looking to the marines, "we w-won't meet again," she warned, "I-I hope you survive this, or die well."

Weldon snorted, "die well?"

Markley nodded, "die well."

The older marine saluted Hannah and she stood straight and nodded. Weldon nodded back and saluted as well. Hannah held Nielson's arm tightly as she watched the two marines head down the hallway, guns ready, until they vanished from sight.

Hannah turned and yanked the scientist along with her, down the hallway towards where the secret door was located.

"You," she hissed at the woman, who turned her frightened eyes towards Hannah, "y-you are going to tell me _everything_."


	36. The Black Warrior

After Hannah left, Jar-hidda had time to think, not just about their plan to escape with the fake-human's help, but also what was said between them, his knowledge of the word 'love,' and the possibility of Bhu'ja-zhu-ju'dha's wisdom.

More than one Path...

Such ideas were blasphemy, and for an arbiter to hold on to such a belief...

Jar-hidda rattled in his throat, sitting as if poised for meditation, but his mind did not allow for him to enter zazin. Too many thoughts whirled through, too many questions demanded answers, and guilt at abandoning something he had held as truth for so long continued to eat at him.

Saying he would let the Path freeze over was easy, actually letting go of it was something different. He had no doubts he was making the right choice in that; Hannah never fit on the Path he walked, on the one he had been taught to strictly follow until the day he found a good death, and Hannah had become more important to him than anything else. He knew that continuously trying to bring her along the Path would end in her death, that had been the message of his dream: her walking into a blackness that he could not follow.

He would not stand for it. And since she could not walk his Path, he would walk hers instead.

And just maybe, that was still a Path of honor.

It went against almost everything he knew, every lesson that had been beaten into him, every tenet that he had almost died for, and letting go of it was like trying to shake off claws that dragged along his skin.

But this was _his_ choice.

For once.

His nearly closed eyes opened fully when he saw a change in the humans. All of them suddenly looked up and around, seemingly confused as they began to move about. He felt a drop in temperature, from the comfortable heat they had been keeping him in, to something Hannah would have felt more at ease with. He sat unmoving as they milled around, had a discussion, and left four humans inside with him while the others left.

It seemed that the plan Hannah and Fred had come up with was being put into action now. He kept his eyes barely open as he forced himself to clear his mind, shaking off any creeping thought or emotion as he prepared himself. Time passed and humans came and left, sometimes it was the soldiers, sometimes it was the non-combatants. There was some kind of uproar going on. If he had to wager, Jar-hidda believed that power to the ship had been disabled, accounting for the temperature drop and the concern in the humans.

Finally, he saw them begin to pack equipment, and Jar-hidda anticipated that they would be getting ready to move him. That was when he would make his escape, he decided, and began to plot different scenarios in his mind of how to deal with the armed humans first, retrieve his gear and meet with Hannah. The mental exercises finally calmed him enough to enter a trance. Not quite zazin, but mesh'in'ga; applying the memories and experience of his past to the potential choices and outcomes in the future, reducing the chances that he would be surprised by anything the humans tried.

He felt himself prepared for everything, until a lone individual entered, frantically pointed at everyone and gestured for them to leave. After some arguments, both the soldiers and the scientists took the equipment they could carry and filed out of the room, leaving the one woman alone with him.

His eyes opened again, staring at her as she stood in the center of the room, looking back at him. She then began to undress. Jar-hidda rattled in confusion, shifting and standing from his kneeling position. He tilted his head as she sauntered forward, resting a hand on the console that controlled everything about his cage. With the tap of several buttons the door to his cage opened, and she strode to the entryway.

The scent of her musk hit him and he snorted and tossed his tresses.

He had to admit, he had not accounted for _this_ outcome.

"Look at you," she spoke, her voice barely a whisper, her desire in her words very apparent.

"I know you can't understand what I'm saying," she breathed, Jar-hidda tilting his head at her words, "but understand that you are my future, the future of the human race. Predator-human hybrids will send humanity to a level we thought could only be obtained through the Engineers."

The woman stepped forward, out of the entryway and towards him. He watched her, but didn't move, looking down as she laid a delicate hand on his abdomen. She gave a shuddering breath, and looked up into his eyes.

"Take me," she whispered insistently, the heat in her body betraying what she meant, "I will give you what she denied you," her hand began to slip down over his stomach, "give me the future."

It was the most gentle touch he had ever felt from someone who desired his body. Her hand trembled as it moved past his center, past where his abdominal muscles ended. His hand engulfed her wrist as he snatched it, pulling it firmly away from him, just before her fingers reached his bulb. The woman gave a cry of surprise and her eyes searched his, confusion clear on her face. He hissed a breath and grinned, upper mandibles spreading.

"Ah ah ah," he scolded, waggling a finger, "no touching."

With little effort he lifted the woman off her feet, dangling her by her wrist in front of him.

"You!" she gasped, "you speak English!"

Jar-hidda rattled, "and Nihongo, but that is irrelevant to you," he walked forward, keeping his eye on her as he moved, "Hannah and I speak often in English so that my people don't understand what we're saying. Makes insulting them behind their backs very easy, especially the females."

He chuckled, "you must be Dr. Nielson. Hannah said you were obsessed with us loving and mating each other."

He turned and set the woman down, his frame blocking the doorway to the cage so that she couldn't escape, though it seemed she had no intentions of running, standing still, surprise written on her face. With a grin, Jar-hidda drew his claws along where his skin was still inflamed by the electricity burn. She watched the motion and fear filled face.

"You were right about one thing," he growled reaching forward, "I love her," he gripped Nielson's shoulders, "but I have no interest in breeding her, or anyone for that matter."

With controlled effort he tossed Nielson to the back of the cage, "now sit there and think about what you've done."

He moved to the console and mimicked the commands he had seen entered so many times. The door to the cage shut just as Nielson tried to throw herself out of it, her shoulder impacting the surface and she began to scream and beat the walls in silence. Jar-hidda growled in his throat, looking down at the console, recalling the button to press to begin the electricity. His claw hovered over it, before it withdrew.

No. Not taking revenge would still be a code he kept on his new Path. Nothing good ever came from revenge. That was the person he wanted to be for Hannah.

With a snort and a toss of his tresses, he looked to the frantic woman and rattled, "you're lucky," and turned, stalking out of the room.

The door was easy to manage and the floor was completely empty. He was free, and he knew that his equipment was here, somewhere down the long hallway, on either the first or second floor. He went first to the nearest door first, figuring that he had time to either find his things and meet up with Hannah, or take long enough looking that Hannah came to him.

The door was easy to open, he suspected it was due to the loss of power in the ship, but the room was empty, save for bulky equipment that were likely deemed non-essential. Rattling in disappointment he left the room and moved to the next one.

His claws barely touched the door handle when he heard a noise. He looked down the way to where Hannah would be coming from, but there was no body of heat. He heard the sound again, and was able to now determine that it was coming from the floor above him. Silently he moved towards one of the stairs that took him to the balcony that circled around, leading to more doors but leaving the center open, giving him view of the lower floor in case Hannah arrived. But the source of the noise needed to be dealt with first. He would not allow a human like Nielson or Weyland to succeed in an ambush against them.

Without his mask and wrist computer, he was forced to throw himself back to the basics on keeping hidden. Things were not as detailed but he could tell the walls from the floor and the railing, and make out where the doors were. His ears did the rest, leading him down the way to where he heard the scuffling past one of the doors. Here was where it got tricky. Opening the door was sure to alert whoever was inside of his presence. Because the window on this side was made of glass he could not see through to determine who was there and how many, though he guessed only one by the sound.

He looked above the door for possible entry through the ceiling, but found none that would not create a lot of noise. The door was his best bet.

Holding in a rattle of annoyance, he crouched and made himself as small as possible to the side of the door, slowly lowering the handle until the latch was loose, and then with a tap he retracted his arm so that the doorway was empty as the door swung inward.

The shuffling sound stopped and Jar-hidda waited. After a moment he peered past the threshold and saw no one within. He kept one of his tusks from clicking in confusion and he leaned further into the doorway, slowly standing to his feet and entering the room cautiously. It was like the other one, devoid of paper and other easily carried things and left behind were empty canisters and bulky equipment. There was a single table in the middle that was neatly set with instruments, some of which were on their side, possibly knocked over from the humans' rush to leave. Jar-hidda considered that the source of the noise may be hiding behind the table.

He crouched in a battle ready stance and silently moved around the furniture, hesitating at the edge before leaning over, claws raised and ready, but there was no one there.

He rattled in frustration.

A scream answered him.

His blood chilled as he reacted immediately, dodging towards one of the walls, the equipment on the table suddenly seemed to explode and scatter across the room.

Jar-hidda roared.

Without the mask, the kainde amedha was nigh-invisible to him; a ghost, mere glimpses of movement. The yautja moved away from the wall, hearing the crash of chitin against the hard surface. He turned his head to try to glimpse his enemy, knowing full well that there had only ever been one yautja who had defeated a kainda amedha bare-handed.

And Yeyinde had at least been able to see his prey.

Jar-hidda could only use the sound of the hissing, the screaming, and the sound of skittering claws to determine where the kainde amedha was, and it was only enough to keep dodging out of its way as it came after him.

He pushed the idea of heading back to the floor out of his mind; he would only give the kainde amedha space to out-maneuver him. Here in the small room it was at least contained, and he had some sliver of a chance.

As he moved around the room, keeping continuously on the move as he darted one way and then the other, he swung his arm, scattering more and more of the small abandoned equipment to the ground, all the while his opponent screeched and pursued him. Once he had made enough of a mess, Jar-hidda turned on his heel and snarled. His eyes cast to the ground and saw the objects he had thrown about shifting in a path.

With a roar he charged that path and felt his body impact the slick shell of the kainde amedha's body. He grabbed what he could, feeling claws rake down his back, and swung himself around, throwing his weight into tossing the kainde amedha away against a wall. He saw the cabinets on the wall crumple, and the items below scatter. He could see the barest of an outline of the kainde amedha's shape, the same color as the rest of the surroundings, but it was gone in an instant, the beast's position determined only by the movement of debris on the ground.

Jar-hidda made one step towards the approaching creature before grabbing the table in the center of the room and flipping it end over end. With a screech it caught on seemingly nothing and began to bob as the kainde amedha pushed against it. The yautja leapt up and landed on the table, hearing something snap and his opponent screech in pain. It took only a few moments for the table to begin melting at his feet, but by then he had found the thing's tail and hopped off. He dragged the kainde amedha out from beneath the table, which snapped in half when it hit the floor, and he threw his shoulder into swinging the beast away from him, smacking it into the irregular shape of many cabinets. The impact caused doors to fall away from hinges, and Jar-hidda could see the arch where the kainde amedha blood had streaked against the walls. He would need to be careful.

The doors and trash thrashed around violently as the kainde amedha lashed out in agony at its wound, and Jar-hidda judged the area where it was writhing and moved to follow up with his attack. But his hands gripped nothing, and the thrashing sound and screaming stopped.

He bent his knees and held his claws ready, rattling as he looked around. The acrid taste of his opponent's blood was still in the air, and he listened for dripping to determine where his prey had gone. It lead him to the other side of the room, keeping his eyes peeled for the smallest indication that would give the beast's position away. Slowly, step by step, he followed the sound of flowing blood. He stopped before the crumpled cabinets where he had first thrown the kainde amedha, and saw that the sound was from some substance from within one of them.

Realizing his error, he turned, and a sharp pain ripped through him. He grabbed and felt the spines of the kainde amedha tail buried in his gut. He was lifted from the ground and heard the sound of hissing as he was dragged towards the ceiling. With a snarl he lashed out and struck the chitin of the kainde amedha. A tail-wound to his gut he could survive, a bite from the kainde amedha's inner mouth to his head he would not.

He struck out again and was whipped around with a shriek, the tail end sliding out of his stomach and he hit a wall, falling down onto broken glass. He pressed his hand to his wound and moved forward, needing to move or he would be caught.

Too slow.

He was barely on his feet, not even standing straight as a weight fell down on him, forcing him to go sprawling across the ground. He snarled as the claws of the kainde ameda dug into his shoulders. He twisted his body to try to throw the beast off. His enemy screamed in response and began to drag him across the floor. Jar-hidda's claws found no purchase on the tile. He scrambled to grab onto anything he could to slow himself, to tear himself from the beast's grip. He caught onto the handle of one of the cabinet doors. It was weak but it was stopped enough that he felt the claws pulling at him, struggling to keep him moving.

He turned to fight back. He would not be taken prey by the kainde amedha. He would not be a tesdae to their young. Hannah had already lost one love to that fate, he would not let her suffer another. The cabinet door broke from it's hinges and Jar-hidda turned, slamming the weak piece of wood against the weight on his back. It shrieked and the mass tumbled away. He dropped the splintered wood and turned, snarling at where he could hear the beast. It screamed back, giving away its position. He lunged from the ground. It hissed. Jar-hidda grappled the body of the kainde amedha, feeling the blood of his injured foe burning into his skin. He gripped where he could, using what he remembered of the body as he wrestled to get his arm behind its neck, twisting his body so that he could pin the head to the ground. The kainde amedha thrashed and Jar-hidda felt the bit of its tail glance across his side and then his shoulder. The beast was concerned about hitting itself. The yautja shifted to dig his knee into the neck of the kainde amedha, putting the weight of his body on the beast.

Invisible claws skittered against the ground. Jar-hidda snarled and snorted, tossing his tresses as his arms snaked around the head of his foe, his fingers digging into the teeth of the mouth, pulling them apart. He felt the inner mouth shoot out in protest, skinning his fingers to his knuckle, reminding him how he had lost his other fingers, but he continued to pull the mouth open wider. The beast's thrashing became more desperate, and the tail no longer missed its mark, stabbing repeatedly into Jar-hidda's back, no longer concerned about injuring itself.

With a resounding crack, the kainde amedha went limp and silent. Jar-hidda heaved for breath, releasing the broken jaw of the beast. His fingers bled from the strike of the inner mouth, and the sharpness of the teeth he had gripped. He reached and pulled the tail out of his back, stumbling to his feet and catching himself on the counter. His mandibles hung open as he panted, hand against the gravest of his wounds, and thought returned to him as the fire of battle left his blood.

The kainde amedha were free, which meant that Hannah was in grave danger. He needed his equipment, and to find her before they did. He turned, leaving the dead kainde amedha where it lay, invisible among the debris, and made his way to the door.

His jaw smacked against it and then the floor as he fell forward, his ankle caught in the grip of claws. Jar-hidda roared and looked but saw nothing as he was dragged across the ground, bumping the body of the kainde amedha he had defeated, and up into the air towards a hole in the ceiling. There were more screams, far too many claws ripping into his skin to be just one kainde amedha tearing him away.

His opponent had called for help with its dying breath, and the last thing Jar-hidda heard, was his own desperate cry for Hannah as he was engulfed by blackness.


	37. Hive

Hey all, I'm breaking my NaNo rule to get you guys this chapter, to let you know that for the next month I will be working on Inhuman for NaNoWriMo, and also to apologize for not getting this chapter out before NaNo like I was intending. Lots of stuff happened I won't get into but depression hit me hard as a result. Trying to power through it but it's lasted longer than most of the swings I go through. That being said, Inhuman is so near to completion that when I come out of NaNo the story will most likely be completed, so I'll see you all then!

* * *

Dr. Nielson was huddled in the corner of the elevator while Hannah stood in front of the doors, staring at her reflection trying to keep it together. The scientist's nose was now surely broken. Hannah could have done more damage than that, but she needed the woman conscious in order to work the ship, now that Fred was busy. The huntress stared at herself in the reflection of the elevator doors, glancing occasionally to the refection of the scientist who was blubbering and crying. Hannah felt no guilt, though perhaps she should for striking a defenseless person.

But the thought of Dr. Nielson trying to seduce Jar-hidda, after everything she helped do to him…. Hannah recalled the burn wound winding itself up Jar-hidda's side and clenched her fist tightly. No need to kill a woman fairly incapable of defending herself. It was against the Path.

A Path Jar-hidda was abandoning.

Hannah sucked in a breath, looking herself in the eyes, easily able to see the underlying worry and fear in her face. Letting out the breath she leaned her head forward and pressed her brow against the cool surface. If Jar-hidda was dead…. Hannah didn't know what she was going to do beyond her resolution to destroy the ship, the kainde amedha and herself along with it. But she may also, just maybe, take out some revenge before that.

Hannah felt the subtle deceleration of the elevator and leaned away from the doors. She shot a glare at the woman in the corner and made a gesture with her head that the scientist should join her. The woman shook her head and Hannah gnashed her teeth.

The door opened and Hannah was immediately struck by the hot humid air pouring in, very different from the icy cold she remembered. Turning her gaze, she no longer saw a straight path of blue lights. The elevator pathway was mostly blocked by some black slick substance, beyond that a tunnel curved away from her sight. The walls were strange, pocked in a way that made her think of nerves attached to spinal cords. She lifted a hand as the doors started closing and they retreated back into the walls, leaving the way open. She leaned forward slightly and turned her head slowly, turning her ear towards the open way. She could hear dripping, the hum of the ship, and not much else.

A kainde amedha hive. She could only liken this to the stories she had heard of what they looked like, but there was a tightness in her back, a tensity pulling at the back of her mind that told her something about it was very wrong.

 _There's no way this was done in a single day._

Hannah's gaze travelled along the slick black walls before falling on Nielson, who had joined her in looking out into the tunnel, an expression of confusion and something like awe on her bloody face. Hannah grimaced and grabbed the woman, easily vaulting her over the part of the barrier blocking the bottom part of the elevators. Hannah stepped over them herself, crouching low and grabbing onto the shoulder of the scientist who had tumbled to the ground.

"L-listen you," Hannah hissed and Nielson whimpered, "you're go-oing to help me find m-my friend. A-and if you don't w-want to die, you ke-eep quiet, and you s-stay near me."

Hannah didn't wait for confirmation, she stood from her crouch and pulled Nielson to her feet, dragging her along, away from the elevators as their doors closed.

Walking through the hive didn't feel much different than being on the Kut'kuni, the humidity was the same, it was a little cooler, and the walls had a very similar aesthetic feel. Hannah wouldn't doubt that a lot of yautja culture was influenced by the kainde amedha, given all that she had been told about the creatures.

Her attention was drawn away from the eerie feeling of familiarity by a sound. She stopped immediately, her back tense, and turned slowly to glare over her shoulder. Nielson had scuffed her foot along some uneven ground. To anyone else it maybe would be considered nothing, but to Hannah it was a glaring offense, and the scientist stared at her, body turned and arms tucked in preparation to be hit again, likely not even aware what she had done wrong.

Hannah turned back around, withholding a rattle of annoyance and took a step forward and paused.

This had to be how Jar-hidda felt about Hannah when they first started travelling together. The thought almost made her smile at the nostalgic notion, but instead she pressed on. Fond memories could wait to be reminisced about later, after she had confirmed if Jar-hidda was alive or dead.

It seemed that the kainde amedha had gone to great lengths to create space. The tunnel wound and snaked through, occasionally branching off into pockets that used to be rooms. It seemed intentionally designed in order to maximize the use of the area. Hannah felt like she was in a maze.

She checked back occasionally to make sure Nielson was still there, but it wasn't entirely necessary. Nielson was making enough noise that Hannah knew where she was, and even if the scientist made a run for it, Hannah would likely not have difficulty finding her. If she wanted to. With the kainde amedha having seemingly forced open all the rooms on the floor, it was looking like Hannah needed Nielson less and less.

"Where are we going?"

The harsh whisper stung at Hannah's back and she grimaced and turned, looking at Nielson. Hannah almost made a handsign at the woman but caught herself. Nielson would not know what the gesture meant, and to respond to her meant she had to speak. Instead Hannah gave the woman a silent snarl behind her mask and pointed forward, then continued in that direction. Hopefully it was enough of an answer to shut the scientist up.

Hannah figured she'd explore the tunnel and rooms until they reached the other side of the floor, where the queen was, or at least where she used to be. If they didn't find Jar-hidda or his body by then, Hannah felt safe in assuming she had made a misjudgment and that the yautja was somewhere else on board, looking for her.

The winding trek was long enough that Hannah's body stopped shaking, which was a blessing. The device in Hannah's ear had been silent since Fred's last words, so she wasn't aware what the situation was at the escape shuttle dock, for all she knew everyone was dead, but she had a feeling the silence was intentional, that Fred was sparing her the noise while she was searching for her friend. Either Hannah would hear back from him eventually, or she never would.

It didn't matter.

Coming to what appeared to be a crossway, Hannah stopped and moved to the wall, resting a hand on it to lean forward and check if the path ahead was clear. She saw nothing and leaned back, removing her hand from the warm surface and looking at the slim that trailed from the wall to her hand. She rubbed it between her fingers, then looked at the wall again.

Resin, or something like it. That's what the walls were made of. Hannah recalled hearing the word te'dqi used in reference to what the walls of hives were made of; secretions from the kainde amedha themselves. These creatures seemed entirely self-sufficient, save for the need for hosts for their young. Hannah recalled that Jar-hidda said the kainde amedha had been created as weapons of war, and considered for a moment, understanding now how easily they must have overtaken Earth, despite human weapons and technology. They were like insects, extremely efficient parasitic insects. All the weapons meant very little if the opponent had numbers on their sides, a literal swarm. Especially if said swarm was larger than humans, stronger and faster, could climb walls and had acid for blood.

Hannah wiped her hand off on her leathers and continued on. The more and more she was understanding of the kainde amedha, the less and less hopeful she was that she would find Jar-hidda alive.

Hannah's steps came to a stop when the tunnel suddenly opened up into a room. Her eyes did very little searching before locking onto the figure ahead of her, the giant angular shape of a large crest atop a cylindrical head, long gangly limbs tucked up against her body, a white pulsating sack beneath a long, serrated tail. The entire form was suspended from the ceiling by the chains Hannah had seen earlier and resin. This was the back of the floor, and it appeared that the walls of the room that had been housing the baiun had been completely torn away.

She hadn't found Jar-hidda.

The queen's form shifted and Hannah stepped back, feeling Nielson press against her back. The head of the monstrous creature lifted, and from the cylinder beneath the crest a head slowly descended; an eyeless maw of crystalline teeth. It swung its head back and forth methodically, then screeched. It knew Hannah was there.

Two shapes melted out of the walls in response to their queen's cry, and began to bear down on the two of them. Nielson screamed. Hannah tapped one of the triggers of her gauntlet and the laser of her mask turned on. Another tap. A blaze of heat erupted from her shoulder and in a split second, one of the kainde amedha blew into pieces. The second one had a quarter of its body blasted nearly completely off and it collapsed to the ground.

Hannah still wasn't sure about the rules regarding kainde amedha, but jar-hidda had used his caster against them, so she felt certain it was alright. Plus, she didn't have the time to dick around with fighting the kainde amedha in melee.

The baiun gave an awful screech as the acrid blood of the two kainde amedha spilled out onto the floor. These were a little different than the one that her and the marines had killed in the upper floors. Their heads were triangular, and they were larger, almost like miniature queens themselves. Maybe these were the males?

Hannah looked from them to the queen who was still screaming, but no other kainde amedha came out from the walls.

Only two guards?

Hannah backed up. Jar-hidda hadn't been here, they needed to go back to the elevator and rethink her plans. She looked at the two kainde amedha again, and her eye caught on something odd about the walls they had come from, something about the way the light fell on it was wrong, like there was a space there, or hole.

The stairs!

Hannah had forgotten about the upper balcony and the floors that were there. She stopped immediately and started forward. She couldn't leave without checking first, just in case.

As Hannah stepped into the space of the large room, the queen began to thrash and hiss and snarl and scream, but Hannah ignored it and walked by, keeping to the walls and keeping her eyes forward. After a moment the creature quieted down and seemed to observe Hannah's progress with curiosity. At the very least the thing seemed aware Hannah had no interest in it.

The huntress swung around to the hole and looked through it, it was exactly that: a hole, something that would be easy for the more quadrupedal kainde amedha to navigate easily, and beyond it, Hannah saw the stairs slick with resin but still accessible. Hannah gingerly stepped through, wavering only slightly on one leg, keeping her one hand on the opening. Once she was through, she headed up the stairs and began to circle the balcony, cautiously inspecting the rooms. Past the one half she turned the corner and saw what she had been looking for.

Bound to the wall in black resin, unmoving, head lulled to one side, a puddle of dark-green blood beneath his feet, was Jar-hidda. Hannah dropped all stealth and charged towards him, gritting her teeth. She pulled all of her momentum into her leg and swung it out. The toe of her clawed sandal impacted the squishy side of an egg that had been set before him. The sticky resin keeping it in place peeled off and strung through the air almost like spider webs, and the thing hit the ground with a sound akin to a pumpkin. The top of the thing burst open with some clear fluid and a pale spider-like creature scuttled out past it, tail lashing through the air.

Hannah heard her name breathed next to her as she unsheathed her wrist blades and charged towards the creature. It whipped its tail and smacked it against the ground, launching it from its position. Long thin legs were aimed at Hannah, reaching for her face. The disgusting pink underside of the thing clearly showing to her what this thing was meant to do. Until it was sliced into three pieces by her wristblades.

The highly pressurized acidic blood sprayed from the thing like a water bomb. Hannah quickly retreated from the gore watching it melt through the floor and looked at her wristblades. They were also melting. With a grunt, Hannah tapped a different trigger of her gauntlet and the blades ejected, clattering to the ground. Hannah could hear the queen scream downstairs, as if it knew that one of its young had just been killed.

Hannah ignored it, going over to Jar-hidda. He was awake, barely. His eyes were just a sliver of gold, and his breathing was labored.

Hannah growled under her breath and stepped up to him, her hand clawing at and beating at the resin that held him against the wall, immediately regretting the loss of her wristblades. Hannah didn't want to risk going at the restraints with her combi-stick and snarled.

"Jolly, how do I break this shit!?"

"Heat," he breathed.

Hannah looked at him, then at the resin again, she stepped back, tapped the first trigger and the laser of her helmet turned on. She stepped forward and aimed the beam at the resin, it took a while but the resin finally seemed to begin softening under the heat of the light, and Hannah tore it away. She did this to key spots and finally, Jar-hidda was free, falling from the wall to the ground on his hands and knees, groaning in pain.

Hannah dropped to her knees beside him, seeing that a gaping wound seemed to go straight through him, reopened by the impact of his fall.

"Goddammit Jolly," she hissed, reaching behind her with a pained hiss and pulling off the medpack, "I swear if you die here, I will give up atheism just so that I can go to your afterlife and kick your ass."

A soft chuckle.

Hannah felt a little hope in that. She taped the kit open to get what medicine was left in it, frowning at the dwindling supplies.

"Hannah."

The woman looked up from her work, surprised at the sound of concern in Jar-hidda's voice. He was looking at her arm, or rather the lack of one.

"I'm fine."

"What happened?"

"Weyland."

Jar-hidda snarled

"He's dead."

She looked at the trophy bag at her waist.

Jar-hidda fell silent.

"We need to get out of here."

Hannah nodded in agreement, passing the med kit to him. He sat up, resting on his heels and began to work through the kit. Hannah kept watch. The way this medicine worked meant Jar-hidda would be making a lot of noise. It wasn't like the baiun didn't know they were there to begin with, but Hannah felt that at any time her brood was going to be bearing down on them. As Jar-hidda yowled and roared behind Hannah, the huntress became aware something was missing.

Dr. Nielson wasn't there.


	38. Aberrations

Hello all, I'm back from NaNo and sadly, with all that happened, I wasn't able to get as much done as I thought. I'm going through and editing what I have, and I'll be posting them up here as I do so. Special thank to Cityhunterluv who went through the first drafts and helped me figure out what I hated about them. We're almost done everyone, and I hope you enjoy this final stretch of the story. I wrote these next chapters in a bout of depression and in a daze. If you notice anything off about them that is so glaring you feel the need to speak up about it, please do so, I would rather be told that something was wrong or inconsistent and fix it than to find out about it several years down the road. Thank you all in advance, and enjoy.

* * *

Jar-hidda was still in bad shape, it was obvious in the way he moved as he stood, but Hannah didn't have time to worry about him, turning and immediately extending her arm. Jar-hidda looked at the mask she was holding and the rest of the equipment she wore. Wordlessly he began to take his things and dress himself, forgoing the usual rituals of prayers for his effects.

Dressed and armed, though still looking a little bare, Hannah handed him his gauntlet with the bomb and looked at him. He tilted his mask to look at it and took it in one hand, his other lifted, and gently rested on her armless shoulder.

"If I set this, we only have a limited amount of time to find my ship and leave here."

Hannah nodded, "I know," Hannah was hoping that Fred would guide her to where they needed to go, but she had still not heard from him at all, she wasn't even sure if he was still alive. Or at least as alive as an android could be.

"It would be best to put the bomb in the center of the ship," Jar-hidda spoke, putting on the gauntlet and fastening it, "not here, do you know where that is?"

"No but I can read maps and get us there," she answered, turning to go back the way she had come. Jar-hidda stepped to her side and together they made their way down the stairs and out the small hole, which was even more difficult for Jar-hidda to go through. Once he was through, Jar-hidda paused a moment to look at the baiun. Her head came out of the sheathe under its crown as if she could sense the two of them there. Hannah eyed Jar-hidda in his stillness, but as the queen began to scream, he moved and lead the way along the wall.

"She's calling for others," Jar-hidda informed her as they neared the labyrinth. Hannah glanced at him. Apparently being silent wasn't necessary right now.

"How do you know?"

"I recognize the sound."

Hannah frowned as her friend wasn't acting like danger was imminent, but remembered what Markley had said. It was a big ship, it would likely take the kainde amedha a while to get from the docks to where they were, and by then Hannah and Jar-hidda would not be here.

"Should we kill her?"

"No," the yautja answered, garnering Hannah's questioning look, "killing her would shock the hoard and slow them down momentarily, but once they recovered, they'd be directionless, even more dangerous than before. It's not wise to kill the baiun first."

Hannah felt uncertain, but deferred to her friend's wisdom and experience on the subject.

Hannah switched positions with Jar-hidda and led the way into the tunnel, seeing neither serpent nor Dr. Nielson, and they made it to the elevator doors. Hannah found that the console to control the elevator was covered in resin. She tapped the trigger to turn her laser on, but was interrupted by the sound of crunching metal. She winced and looked over at Jar-hidda who had shoved his wristblades into the doors and then pried them open.

There was no elevator. Hannah cursed Dr. Nielson and leaned in to the shaft to look up and down.

"Let me get the console free and then I can call it back."

"We don't have time for that Hannah," Jar-hidda growled, "we'll climb."

Hannah reflexively agreed with this idea but then remembered a key detail.

"Jolly…."

Jar-hidda looked back at Hannah and then followed her eyes to look at her empty shoulder. Jar-hidda shifted, then turned his back to Hannah and bent to one knee, "hold on to me, I'll climb."

"I'd have to hold onto your neck!"

"I'll be fine," the yautja rattled, glancing over his shoulder. Hannah stared at him, "just don't dig your nails in."

Hannah hesitated, but stepped forward and wrapped her arm around Jar-hidda's throat, keeping her hand in a fist. When he stood, she wrapped her legs around his waist and took a steadying breath. Jar-hidda approached the open doors, stepping over the resin, and then jumped towards the back of the shaft. Hannah's arm reflexively tightened around Jar-hidda's neck to prevent the impact from knocking her loose. She heard her friend choke on a cry and she grit her teeth, forcing herself to relax her arm. It felt extremely unsafe to do so, like she would slip away at any second.

Jar-hidda began to climb, wristblades digging into the metal which created holes for the claws on his feet as he ascended. Hannah could feel the bumps of the scars he had on his shoulder against her arm, and hoped that he was not in too much pain.

"No nasty thoughts," she spoke softly to him, daring to joke, hoping to distract from the discomfort, and to test to see how he was holding up.

"This is not the kind of stimulation on my neck that warrants those kinds of thoughts Hannah," Jar-hidda quipped back.

Hannah smiled, he was doing fine, for basically climbing up a skyscraper with almost two-hundred pounds hanging off his throat.

"Maybe I'll make it up to you later," she teased, knowing full-well that the odds were stacked against them making it out of here alive.

Jar-hidda's foot slipped and Hannah's arm tightened around his neck. Jar-hidda gave a strangled cry and quickly caught himself again, claws digging into the wristblade holes. He steadied himself, breathing heavily, and growled low in his throat where Hannah could feel it through her arm.

"Don't make jokes like that, not right now."

Hannah chuckled, "okay I'm sorry."

Her voice was barely a whisper, grinning into his dreads.

He huffed and continued to climb. Hannah noticed that the climb was wearing on him though, and after a minute of slowing down, he came to a halt, wristblades dug deep into the wall, heaving for breath. Hannah looked around, feeling her own arm shiver with the strain of holding on.

"Jolly, the doors behind us, up there," she said, unintentionally whispering, "I think we're on a high enough level that there will be stairs to the different floors."

Jar-hidda turned to glance behind him, then twisted his body, one arm leaving its hold. It took him just a second to gauge the distance before Hannah felt his muscles bunch and he leapt towards the doors. He slammed his wristblades into the seam to allow for his fingers to slip through, and then prying them open. He stepped through, and the moment Hannah saw solid floor she dropped off. Bending to one knee she looked at her arm, flexing and curling her fingers. Beside her Jar-hidda bent to his knees with a heavy sigh, looking down at the floor, taking deep breaths.

Hannah frowned.

"I think we need to rest," she breathed.

"We don't have time to rest," Jar-hidda gasped back.

"I know," Hannah sighed, bowing her head before rising again to her feet. She shook her arm out to get feeling back into it before favoring her wounded shoulder, hissing a bit in pain. As she looked around, she noticed that this floor was not like the other floors she had seen. It was more like one massive room, no stairs in sight. Hannah cursed herself as she remembered that this was Weyland's secret elevator. Whatever floors were connected to the shaft were probably not connected to the rest of the ship by normal means.

This room was filled with glass tubes that stretched from floor to ceiling, and there were figures inside of them. Hannah swallowed a breath and stepped forward. The further in she went, the angrier she felt. Tube after tube held creature after creature; not quite yautja, not quite human, some in greater degrees of hybridization than others. They were preserved, like specimens in a laboratory.

Hannah stopped at one tube, a small form with speckled skin, curled in the fetal position, eyes closed seemingly as if in sleep, small clawed fists by its face, clawed feet tucked up underneath it. Small lips were framed by tiny mandibles, elongated skull dotted with fat black spikes, the beginnings of tresses.

"What's inside?"

Hannah looked away from the aberration to her friend. He couldn't see what was within; the tubes were made of glass. She grimaced and lifted her hand away from the surface, taking a step back.

Hannah looked from him to the creature.

"An infant."

"An infant what?"

Hannah took a breath, "hybrid."

Jar-hidda's rattle cut short. He stood still for a while before stepping forward, "what?"

Hannah frowned, looking at the mangled mess of her shoulder.

"Weyland and Nielson were experimenting with hybridization between humans and yautja, Weyland even experimented on himself," Hannah's eyes slid along the still form of the deceased creature in the tube, "I should have guessed he wouldn't have taken the risk without testing it extensively on others first."

Jar-hidda joined her side and looked into the tube rattling in displeasure.

"I warned them that the humans would be space faring soon. Now this."

Hannah looked to him, but he wasn't talking to her. Her gaze then swept further down the way. The entire room was filled with these canisters, humans whose lives had been literally torn apart and then ended for the goals of one insane man. Something dark caught her eye and she turned to approach it, hearing Jar-hidda rattle in confusion behind her.

She narrowed her eyes, trying to focus on the obscure shape in front of her, trying to determine what it was, and by the time she stood before the tube, she was scowling.

It was a woman, it could not be denied. Her form was twisted like one in agony, arms crossed over her chest, holding her shoulders, body doubled over. But there was no pain written on her face. There was no face. There was a mouth, but above was a smooth featureless skull, long in shape. Crooked spikes erupted from her back, her toes and nails were pointed, and a long, serrated tail swept from her rear. All of her extremities faded from the color of her flesh to the black color of kainde amedha chitin.

"Another infant?"

"Worse," Hannah sneered, turning and walking briskly back towards the elevator, "we need to get out of here. No more climbing, I'm going to bring the lift down."

Jar-hidda hesitated, looking from her to the glass tube, rattling in frustration, likely wondering what could be worse than a human-yautja hybrid. He was lucky he could not see what she could.

Hannah brought out the keyboard scanning the fake hand and fumbled a bit with trying to remember the code, getting it on her third try. The elevator lights showed that it was descending, and Hannah glared at them, then down at her trophy net. Her frown deepened, and she reached for and undid the bindings. She reached in, curling her fingers into the hair of Weyland's decapitated head. With a snarl she whipped around and threw the head further into the room, watching it smack against one of he tubes and then roll to a stop on the ground.

Jar-hidda witnessed the act, staring at where the head now lay, then looked to Hannah, who was staring at the elevator again.

"Unworthy trophy," she grumbled, stepping into the elevator once it arrived.

She was ready to just leave all of this behind. The humans, the kainde amedha, everything. She just wanted to leave, and go back to the way thing were with her and Jar-hidda. But as Jar-hidda entered the elevator with her, resting a reassuring hand on her shoulder, she was reminded that things could never be the same again.


	39. Imminent

Both her and Jar-hidda were at the ready when the doors to the elevator opened on the floor she had selected, and Hannah activated her laser as she leaned out, ready to blast any kainde amedha that may have shown up.

A hand on her shoulder stopped her from going forward, and she looked back to Jar-hidda. The yautja shook his head, indicated her caster, and signed her the word 'no.'

Hannah lifted her hand to make signs, but with one hand missing she was unable to, so spoke quietly, "why not?"

Seemingly seeing the situation she was in, Jar-hidda also spoke rather than signed, "you could blow a hole in the side of the ship, and there would be no more us to plant the bomb."

Hannah paused her hand movements, recalling the two queen's guards that she had destroyed. She hadn't thought about the fact that they were still in space and that had she missed, it could have been catastrophic.

Hannah sheepishly reached for her combistick, pressing the trigger to change it to its bow form. Then as the three remaining arrows extended out, Hannah had a revelation that filled her with dread.

She looked from the bow, to her missing right arm, then to Jar-hidda, eyes wide.

Jar-hidda mimicked the glances and rattled softly, lifting a hand to the space of her shoulder but did not touch it, slowly clenching his fist.

She was at a loss. Unable to use her bow, without wristblades and using the caster out of the question, her only option was to engage the creatures in melee with her combistick. She lowered her bow, pressing the trigger again to retract the string and arrows.

"Stay behind me," Jar-hidda spoke softly, "I'll keep you safe."

"You're crazy if you think I'm going to let you do all the fighting," she hissed.

Jar-hidda snarled, turning back on her and grabbing just her one arm, "Hannah, you're severely wounded, I'm in better shape than you are, I can fight, you can't—."

"Jolly!" Hannah snapped, "I can! Just because I'm hurt doesn't mean I'm incapable."

Jar-hidda's mandibles closed and he heaved a breath, "I don't want to risk it."

Hannah knew what he meant and frowned. She twisted her arm in his hand and he released her.

"Look, Jolly," she said softly, "I know how you feel, I don't want you to die either. But we're not in a position where you can coddle me and protect me. We need to look out for each other. You love me," she bit back against the twist in her chest, "and I love you, but that doesn't change the fact that we are two hunters. We'll leave this ship together, or we die here together," Hannah put her combistick on her belt and sighed, lifting a hand to tug at his tresses, "there's no fear in death."

Jar-hidda rattled slowly, his hand lifting and snaking up hers. Hannah's eyes searched his mask, before standing on her toes and pulling on some of his dreads to bring his head down, tapping the brow of her mask against the crest of his.

"We've been in this together from the start, it will end that way. You've never gone easy on me before, don't start now."

She sank back to her heels and Jar-hidda looked to her, rattling softly, before giving her a single nod. He released her hand and his dreads slowly slipped from her fingers. She nodded as well and grabbed her combistick from her hip, looking down the hallway and began leading the way.

"Map's this way," she said softly before falling silent. Jar-hidda followed behind, and Hannah was much more grateful for his presence than Nielson's. The floor was dead silent, which would allow for them to know when something was coming. She expected something to, at every intersecting hallway, under every vent.

Hannah rounded the corner cautiously and stopped in front of a large map of the ship.

Jar-hidda snorted, "paper."

Hannah smirked and looked over the map. Overall, she was only familiar with this floor of the ship and the one Jar-hidda used to be on, that was the only reason she knew where the map was.

"Alright," she sighed, "if we want to put this thing in the middle of the ship, we have to go down four levels," she looked at Jar-hidda, "where's your ship?"

Jar-hidda tapped his gauntlet and was still for a moment before looking down as well.

"Perfect," Hannah grumbled, "we came up here for basically no reason."

A clattering sound interrupted the two of them and the two hunters immediately crouched. Jar-hidda extended his glaive at the same time Hannah extended her combi-stick, and the two of them looked down the hallway towards the noise.

Hannah was certain all the kainde amedha would be at the docks, and with how many soldiers there were on board, Hannah was certain that the Kainde Amedha would still be working on them, if not already all dead by now.

But it was possible it was quite the opposite.

Hannah stepped forward and was barred by Jar-hidda's thick arm. She looked at it, then at him. He gave a simple shake of his head, crouched and moved back down the hallway. Hannah followed, keeping an eye out for the source of the noise, following Jar-hidda into an adjacent hallway.

 _Where is the up and down?_ He signed.

It took Hannah a moment to realize he meant elevators, and had a brief moment of amusement in realizing that yautja did not have them. Everything was stairs or ladders or just plain old climbing. Or jumping.

Her amusement fading, she indicated with her combi-stick to follow her, and began leading the way to the regular elevators, trying to quickly commit everything on the map to memory. The elevators themselves were easy enough to find, she knew where they were, she just needed to remember what floor to go to and what direction to go from there.

Hannah glanced back over her shoulder only once, seeing that Jar-hidda was there behind her. She hated not knowing more about the kainde amedha, not being able to plan or strategize for how to fight if they encountered them. But Jar-hidda knew what he was doing, and that brought her comfort.

She stopped looking behind her.

It took a while with being stealthy, but they made it to the elevators undisturbed. That unnerved Hannah. Jar-hidda, rather than force the doors open, stood watch as she entered in the key to get them working. She almost flinched when the doors dinged and the two of them slipped in. The doors slid silently closed and Hannah was looking at her reflection again.

She looked tired.

"You think we'll run into the kainde amedha again?"

"How many are there?"

"About forty."

"Possibly."

"You think they'd come this far up the ship?"

"They'll most likely go where the most life is, once they're done there, they'll look for stragglers."

"Meaning us?"

"Hannah."

Hannah heard the concern in Jar-hidda's voice before she felt his hand on her chest. She blinked and realized that she was almost an inch away from her reflection, propped up by her combistick, leaning far forward.

"I think the medicine's wearing off," she huffed.

"Likely," Jar-hidda gruffed, leaning her back so that she was upright.

"What's in that stuff anyway?"

"You don't want to know," he shifted to face her.

Hannah laughed once, "what, is it semen?"

"No," Jar-hidda protested curtly, and turned his back to her, bending down to one knee.

"Not again Jolly. Once we start moving again I'll be fine."

"Or you'll collapse from shock and exhaustion."

"Jolly, I can walk."

"Hannah, I know you can," Jolly rattled, turning his mask towards her, "but I'm faster."

Hannah shut her mouth, feeling light headed as she came down off of the rush the medicine had given her. She couldn't argue with that logic, but with her on his back he'd be encumbered. Not to mention he'd have her arm around his throat again.

"I don't want to be a burden to you anymore…."

Jar-hidda rattled in confusion, before standing. He turned to face Hannah, lifting a hand to his mask and removed it, bending down to touch his crest to her forehead, "you've never been a burden. A source of frustration, worry, anxiety, and sometimes downright anger, maybe."

"Yeah, people call that being a burden Jolly."

Jar-hidda clicked, tugging on one of her braids, "you've also been a source of laughter, strength, determination, pride, and peace. You're not burden. Now get on my back."

Hannah pouted but didn't say anything, instead silently mulled over ideas for how to get her way. The elevator slowed to a stop and dinged. When the door opened, they were greeted by the sight of several figures, and Hannah's heart leapt into her throat thinking the kainde amedha got the drop on them.

But she recognized the figures: Fred, Sergeant Brody, Weldon, Markley, and a handful of other humans, civilian, staff and soldier.

She didn't feel tired anymore.

"Ah, I thought the elevator might be you two."

Hannah winced at Freds's voice and turned her head to get a better look at the group as Jar-hidda rattled and put his mask back on and stepped out of the elevator.

"What about the escape shuttles?" she growled in English

Fred nodded, "once the xenomorphs attacked we started deploying them so that none could enter one and be picked up by a ship later. This meant we sent some shuttles with no one on board."

"By 'we' he means he hit the button and sent them all off at once, leaving us stranded," Brody growled, looking at Fred.

Fred nodded, giving the corner of his mouth pulling down as he shrugged his shoulder, showing that he could not deny this accusation, "I'm a man focused on the greater good, Sergeant Brody. My actions preserved the larger amount of life."

Brody turned and snapped at the android, "we could have held them off, fit more on the ships."

"A risk I was not willing to take," Fred responded calmly, "if even one xenomorph made it onto a shuttle, it could molt into a queen by the time the destress signals were picked up. By then it would have laid even just one egg, infected even just one person, and spread its plague to who knows where, killing countless."

"So you condemned some near hundred people to death."

"And potentially saved millions."

"Or no one."

Hannah frowned and cleared her throat, interrupting the two men as they spoke. Fred looked to her immediately.

"There's not one-hundred here."

"No," Markley spoke up and she looked at him, "by the time we arrived, there were a lot of dead, and the xenomorphs took some."

"What's left here is what the bugs left behind after they retreated."

"Retreated?"

"Recall that I said that the kainde amedha baiun called her brood back to her," Jar-hidda growled, causing the people there to flinch and step back from him.

"It talks!?"

" _He_ talks," Jar-hidda growled at Weldon. Hannah smirked half-heartedly.

"So why are you all here?"

"Because I'm not as heartless as I appear to be," Fred spoke up to answer Hannah, interrupting Brody who had his mouth open to speak, earning the android a glare, "there is one more chance to save the remaining lives here. I know that there is one more ship on this doomed vessel that can allow us to escape on, " the android nodded once towards the two hunters, "yours."

Jar-hidda stood stock still for a moment, staring at the android who stared calmly back, assured in his logic.

"Fine," Jar-hidda finally rattled, leaning back, "but first we go to the center of the ship."

"Fair enough," Fred replied turning easily and immediately leading the way down the hallway.

Jar-hidda gruffed, tossing his tresses and rattling under his breath, "fake human," before following. The entire group came with, and Hannah looked to Brody.

"Where's your son?"

"I made sure he was on one of the shuttles before the android even shot them off."

Hannah nodded and closed her eyes. The urge to sleep was very powerful, and it took great effort to open her eyes again.

"You don't look so good."

"I lost an arm," Hannah chuckled softly.

"You can laugh about that?"

"I've died before. One arm is no big deal."

"You—," Brody stared, almost stopping in his tracks.

"Humans killed her back on Earth," Jar-hidda clarified, "I brought her back."

"He wasn't supposed to."

"I wasn't supposed to," Jar-hidda growled.

Hannah smiled.

Brody had kept the closest to Jar-hidda and Hannah. She had to admit she felt much more comfortable with the number of guns surrounding them, since the use of their casters was deemed a very bad idea. In total there was about twenty people without guns, five people with guns, Jolly and herself, and Fred. They were outnumbered by the kainde amedha, but Hannah felt better about their odds, rather than being certain that they were going to die.

She was surprised Jar-hidda wasn't reprimanding anyone for talking or making noise. Maybe he thought it was pointless with the sound of dozens of shuffling feet, maybe he was allowing it to help Hannah stay conscious.

"Are we heading to your friend's ship?"

"No," rumbled the yautja, turning to look in the direction of where the Kut'kuni was.

"We put the bomb in the middle of the ship," Fred clarified, "the more of the ship that gets destroyed, the more kainde amedha we kill."

"The more likely we are to die," grumbled Weldon. Hannah glanced at him.

"This android doesn't care if we live or die, private," Brody responded, and Hannah turned her gaze to him again.

She frowned. They didn't get it. Her, Jar-hidda, Fred, they understood.

"Bouvetoya."

Brody cocked an eyebrow at her.

"My mother and a team of specialists went to Bouvetoya to investigate a pyramid buried in the ice of Antarctica. At the same time, the yautja come to hunt in the pyramid."

"Hunt humans?"

"Hunt kainde amedha."

Brody frowned deeply.

"At the end of the hunt, one of the yautja planted a bomb to destroy the pyramid. Only one human survived, and it wasn't my mother," Hannah took a deep breath and closed her eyes, hearing Jar-hidda rumble in his chest as she recounted the story. Fred glanced back at her, but continued walking.

"My mother either died at the hands of the kainde amedha, or died in the blast that prevented them from reaching the surface, and spreading to the rest of the world. I don't blame the yautja for doing that. Maybe for luring humans to the pyramid in the first place, but not for the measures taken to ensure that the kainde amedha did not take over Earth."

Brody took a deep breath and sighed, "not a whole lot of good that did."

"No," Hannah sighed, forcing her eyes open, "it only delayed the inevitable. But it was humans that brought the plague that destroyed their world, just like it was a human who brought this plague here, that we're fighting now. And if in the end I have to die to prevent another outbreak somewhere in the universe, I'm willing to do it. We'll fight to the end, Brody, make no mistake of that," she glowered at the man, "but if we fall, this ship will be destroyed, and all aboard it, no matter what."

"If the hunter fails, nothing survives."

Hannah looked at Fred's back. He frowned and looked forward continuing to lead.

"So you two aren't even going to give us a chance to make it out?"

Hannah narrowed her eyes at Brody, "I commend your will to live Brody, but considering that Jar-hidda is the only one here who knows how to arm that bomb, _and_ fly his ship, if he goes down, we're all dying anyway."

Brody glowered at Hannah and shifted moving a bit away from them, and Hannah sighed.

"You've faced these things before Brody. And you know that if we don't get every last one of them, they're just going to come back in force."

Brody was silent, and Hannah didn't press the matter, falling silent herself. But she recalled the story he told about his time on the Mormon colony, and its fate.

"Any of that medicine left?" she asked Jar-hidda, feeling the adrenaline wear off from mistaking the survivors for serpents.

"It would not be wise for you to take a second dose so soon."

Hannah scoffed, "why not?"

"Because Hannah, you're still human, and it will kill you."

"You heard her, we're all going to die anyway."

Jar-hidda turned his mask to Brody and snorted, Hannah chuckled.

"He's right though."

Jar-hidda snorted at her and she laughed, then winced, then quieted, still smiling.

 _We just have to make it to the center of the ship,_ she thought to herself, _that's it, that's all we need to do._

She stopped herself in that train of thought, and corrected herself.

 _That's all_ he _needs to do._

"Alright," Fred said, stopping ahead of them and looking around, they were just in the middle of a hallway, inconspicuous, nothing seemed important about it, "right here is the exact center of the ship."

Fred pointed and Jar-hidda stopped. The group behind him following suit, with the marines keeping an eye out and the staff in the middle looking around nervously.

Hannah snatched and extended her combistick to hold herself up as Jar-hidda stepped forward. Hannah looked at his back and felt a small amount of relief. The yautja tapped on the wrist computer before removing it from its chassis.

"I am giving us twenty-five minutes," he growled at the android, setting it down where Fred had pointed, "I know where our ship is, do you know the directions to it?"

"Yes."

"Time starts now then," Jar-hidda gave a final tap of the wrist computer, and set it down, looking to the android, "tick-tock."

Immediately everyone began to move. Fred calmly took the lead, rushing past the crowd of people being turned around by the marines and told to move. Jar-hidda took two long strides to Hannah just as she was turning to follow and picked her up, joining Fred at the front of the entire group.

"God dammit Jolly I can walk!"

"But I run faster."

Hannah hissed and retracted her combistick, holding it close. If stealth was an issue before, it was thrown way out of the window now. They were like a thundering herd stampeding to safety. Jar-hidda's gait was smooth but the action of running still hurt, and she tightly closed her eyes against the pain.

She focused on her breathing, focused on not passing out, focusing on not screaming.

Screaming.

Gunfire.

More screaming, but more chilling.

Hannah's eyes opened as she felt gravity take over and she hit the ground, unprepared to catch herself. With a small cry she rolled herself upright, combistick extending as she crouched. All around, the shining black carapaces of the kainde amedha swarmed the group of survivors, undulating around them as they slithered and struck out at those who fought back. The group of humans were a panicked writhing mess, all trying to bunch together and run away at the same time. Orders were shouted at them to run. Those that did were picked off, suddenly vaulted towards the ceiling.

Swallowing down bile in her throat Hannah stood and joined the fray. Putting Jar-hidda on the side of her body that was missing the arm, she stabbed at the kainde amedha going for one of the staff, distracting it from its target as it screeched and turned on her. Hannah retracted the combistick and extended it again, driving the spear through the head of the beast and causing it to collapse. Retracting it again, Hannah noticed that the sickly yellow blood dripped harmlessly from the spear tip.

Her combistick was resistant to corrosion? Why the hell weren't her wristblades!?

Pushing the outrage aside Hannah turned to her next prey, and continued to fight, occasionally feeling the heat of Jar-hidda's body next to her, but not distracting herself with seeing how he was doing, hoping he was doing the same.

With a shudder the hoard all seemed to disperse at once, crawling back into holes and down hallways. Hannah stood ready, waiting for what happened next, out of breath and dizzy. Some of the soldiers were dead, Hannah glimpsed Weldon among them. Someone was screaming, his chest melting open after being splashed by acid and other people were trying desperately to remove his shirt to prevent it from spreading.

The marines called to move, Hannah swung the blood off of her combistick and yelled at the scientists, "leave him he's dead!" just as she was snatched off her feet by Jar-hidda, running after Fred who had taken off ahead again.

"Move! Leave him, let's go!" Brody yelled over the noise, ushering people forward, kicking them even, before taking out his side arm and putting an end to the screaming man's misery. The surviving few were on the move again.

Hannah grit her teeth and cursed under her breath, keeping one eye open, waiting for the kainde amedha to attack again, wondering why they would have retreated in the first place.

"This way," Fred said, turning around a corner.

How much time had they lost with that fight? How much time was left? Did Jar-hidda know? Did his mask tell him?

"Here," Fred ran to a door, typing in the commands to open it and rushing in with Jar-hidda following.

There was a sudden twist of Jar-hidda's torso and a gunshot went off. Hannah tensed, ready to be dropped and fight the kainde amedha again but it was just the one shot, and Jar-hidda gave a short yowl and then a roar.

Hannah leaned to see. Fred was standing with his hands raised, beyond him, face still smeared with makeup and blood, causing dark lines to streak down her cheeks, was Hannah's tormentor.

Rage boiled in Hannah's blood and she roared at the scientist.

"God dammit Nielson! We _literally_ don't have time for your bullshit!"


	40. Mother of Monsters

Nielson stood between the group and the kut'kuni, a handgun in her hand, aimed at Jar-hidda. The marines lifted their guns at her and she shrieked out.

"Move and I kill him!"

Hannah grunted and tried to get out of Jar-hidda's grip. The yautja set her down but a firm clawed hand kept him between her and the gun. They both knew that it was she Nielson wanted to shoot, but the doctor was just crazy enough, and knowledgeable enough, to kill Jar-hidda if she wanted. She had already shot him; Hannah saw that green blood was trickling from his shoulder blade.

"Dr. Nielson," Fred said pleasantly, stepping forward.

"Don't come near me android!" she shrieked, stepping back and he stopped. The scientist's chin tilted down, eyeing him, and then jerked towards Hannah and Jar-hidda, "I command you to kill that woman."

Fred lowered his hands and stared straight at Nielson, who sneered at him.

"Unit 468738 I give you a direct order to kill Hannah Rousseau!"

"Ma'am," Fred stated curtly and politely, "kindly go fuck yourself."

Nielson slowly looked from Hannah to Fred, bewildered.

"And I mean that with the utmost disrespect," Fred added, gentleness and sincerity in his voice, adding a small smile at the end.

Nielson sneered and turned her gaze to Hannah.

"You," she growled, "you did this. You turned against your own kind. Killed your own people. We tried to bring you back to us and look what you did! You ruined everything! You killed him! You monster!"

Hannah bristled, but Jar-hidda's hand kept her in place.

"I'm the monster!? I saw what you did! To Weyland, to the people before him! Would you also care to explain to those here how the kainde amedha got on board? Why there are as many as there are?"

"We don't have time for this!" Brody yelled stepping forward.

Nielson discharged her gun, seemingly a surprise even to herself. Jar-hidda's jerked, and his chest bled, another hole in his body. He looked at it, then slowly back at Nielson, rattling in warning.

Brody froze in his spot.

"I mean it," Nielson breathed, "I'll kill him."

Hannah glowered.

"What do you want Nielson?"

"I want you dead!" the woman screamed, her voice echoing through the dock, and she cringed as if her own voice had slapped her, eyes wide, staring at Hannah, "that's it, that's all I want. Everyone else can go," she shrugged a shoulder, shaking.

" _How much longer do we have Jolly_?" Hannah murmured to her friend in yautjan.

" _Twelve minutes_."

" _Let me go_."

" _No_."

Hannah gnashed her teeth and dug her nails into the tendon in Jar-hidda's wrist. The yautja yowled as his grip was forced to release and Hannah stepped back several feet, out of reach of any reactionary grasp.

Jar-hidda looked at her. Hannah squared her shoulders and gave a single nod, " _it's alright Jolly. I'm old. We had a good run. I love you_ ," she smirked behind her mask, " _I'll see you on the Path_."

Jar-hidda rattled, slowly straightening up, fists clenching. He stood still, muscles bunching as if he was going to rush at her and restrain her, to keep her from doing what needed to be done. But with a click of agreement, he nodded once.

" _I'll see you again_ ," he rattled reluctantly, " _on our Path_."

Hannah smiled, but then was filled with resolve, "alright Nielson," she snarled, "everyone gets on that ship before you pull that trigger."

The huntress turned away from Jar-hidda, walking towards the woman, the gun shaking in the scientist's hand.

"You get what you want, and they get to go."

Nielson's eyes flickered across Hannah's form, taking a step back, frightened, uncertain. Hannah strode forward with purpose, her weapons remaining at her sides, limping slightly from overexerting her body. Jar-hidda could take a bullet. Hannah recalled him taking an entire clip to his chest on the mountain that they met. Even in this condition he would survive those wounds Neilson already gave him, so long as he was given opportunity to heal.

Hannah would not, especially not in the condition she was in. Enhanced as she was, Jar-hidda was right.

Physically, at least, she was still human.

Hannah reached up with her hand and removed her mask, attaching it to her hip, causing Nielson to flinch and tremble, but kept the gun trained on Hannah, until the huntress stepped forward, pressing her brow to the barrel of the gun.

Her eyes bored into the woman's.

For a while everything was still, then Fred was the first to move, beckoning the remaining humans forward. They moved fearfully past Nielson, towards the Kut'kuni, the marines going with them. Hannah saw them only through her peripheral vision, never taking her eyes off of Nielson's, not even blinking. The doctor was afraid, her sweat shone under the red lights, she shivered, her lips thinned.

"You're not human," she whispered fearfully.

"You know," Hannah clicked, "if my pet lizard were alive, I might have cared more about that fact. But you want to know something _really_ fucked up?"

Hannah bared her teeth as she hissed at the scientist, "neither are you."

Nielson twitched.

There was a dull boom.

The floor beneath their feet vibrated.

Nielson looked down, and Hannah stood still.

It occurred again, and the shaking became stronger.

The people approaching the ship began screaming and panicking, looking to Jar-hidda who had lagged behind. They needed him to open it.

A third boom, pounding from below them, the round quaking. Nielson looked frantically back and forth before panicking and looking at Hannah, mouth gaping.

Hannah stared into her eyes, "your babies are here."

The ground of the dock bulged upwards a distance away from where the two women stood, and Hannah and Nielson jolted at once. The gun went off and Hannah felt the brow above her left eye burn and bleed. She snatched the gun in the scientist's hand, twisting the human's wrist until she released it and kicked her to the ground.

Suddenly with the screech of metal and the scream of the baiun, the floor erupted. The queen's crest rose as her arms twisted the metal out of her way. As she climbed out smaller kainde amedha swarmed out from around her, spilling out like a flood. The queen righted herself, steps pounding on the metal as she turned towards the group of survivors and screamed.

There were way more than forty.

Hannah didn't have time to figure numbers, turning the gun towards the oncoming wave of black creatures and began to fire at them. The answering call of rapid gunfire surrounded her, along with the battle cries of the marines. Jar-hidda's roar echoed through the dock and he charged forward, glaive extending in his hand.

Hannah knew they needed to keep the kainde amedha from the Kut'kuni, even if they could kill them while they clambered on it, their acidic blood could compromise the hull. That ship and Jar-hidda were the priority now. Without either of them, everyone else was doomed.

Nielson's gun was emptied quickly. Her aim was shit, the gun was unfamiliar in her hand. Alien. Hannah dropped it to the ground, removing her cheetah and trying to steady her aim as she continued to fire into the encroaching hoard.

It was still wrong. She couldn't tell if she had hit any of the kainde amedha at all. The chaos around her drowned out her perception of what she was doing. A serpent falls in the group; was it her? Was it Brody?

The gun in her hand clicked. The last bullet shot. And a small emptiness filled her as she looked at the open chamber.

 _Twelve minutes_.

Hannah's muscles relaxed, her arm dropping, the cheetah slipping from her fingers, striking the ground with a sound lost to the screams of battle. Her hand swung to her waist, fingers curled around the shaft of her spear, detaching it and extending it as she began to move forward.

With a roar, her spear dug into the skull of the nearest kainde amedha. She wrenched the spear out and danced over the blood to go after the next.

" _Jolly get to the ship_!" she roared at him, the yautjan language tearing out of her over the screams of the serpents.

She was certain he heard her, but he kept fighting.

"Jolly!"

He was too far away for her to outright hit him, swinging his glaive and slicing through the hoard as they tried to overwhelm him. Human screams caught Hannah's attention and she glanced. Panicked humans had begun to run. Kainde amedha had crawled over the ship and snatched some of the humans, dragging them back towards the hole created by the queen. Fred was there trying to keep the humans together and defend them. A serpent crested the Kut'kuni and pounced on him, but he twisted his body and threw it into the ground. Another whipped around the base of the ship and tackled him. The two tumbled and rolled on the ground, Fred pushing the things face away just as an inner mouth shot out towards his head.

Hannah used her combistick to parry a tail strike that came at her, retracting the spear and shifting as the kainde amedha screeched and came closer. She stepped to the side and extended her spear into its body before retracting it again. Her eyes darted around the battlefield, seeing humans being dragged between the feet of the queen.

The gunfire got quieter and quieter as soldier after soldier was overwhelmed. Brody kept himself rooted to the spot, screaming in anger, mowing down the kainde amedha as the came near him, surrounding him. His gun misfired, out of ammo. Without hesitation he dropped it and moved to his side arm, firing twice, then again. He was jumped on from behind, smacking him to the ground.

The pointed end of the serpent's tail struck him twice in the back quickly, like a scorpion, and the bug moved on.

Hannah swiped the foreleg of a kainde amedha out from under it just as it put all its weight on it, causing it to tumble at her feet, and she stabbed the spear into its skull, leaving it quivering, and her devoid of enemies. She looked around, trying to quickly gauge who was left and what was happening.

And she spotted Nielson.

The scientist was desperately clawing at the ground, screaming as a serpent dragged her towards the jagged gaping maw leading down into the ship. Hannah caught the woman's eye, just as Nielson caught the ledge, fighting to pull herself up again. Hannah frowned. Nielson screamed. A pair of thin black skeletal hands grabbed onto her face and shoulder, and dragged her down into the abyss.

The queen gave out a terrible screech and turned, swinging its head before moving towards Jar-hidda.

Hannah's eyes widened as she saw the queen bearing down on him. She wanted him specifically, just like Weyland had, just like Nielson did.

Rage burned within Hannah's blood again and she looked at her combistick. With a flick it bent, the cable attaching the two ends. With a snarl she bit into the end of one of the arrows, removing it from its slot. She jerked her head back and pinched the shaft between the fingers still gripping the bow, she repositioned her head and bit the thin fletches of the arrow, lining it with the cable. She bit both cable and notch between her teeth and locked her arm. She pulled her whole body back, keeping an eye on the baiun, leaning her head back, bending the bow as far as she could. She saw Jar-hidda turn to face the giant kainde amedha, glaive in hand. Hannah saw him prepare to fight, a fight he would not win, an honorable death.

Hannah cried out defiantly, and the arrow loosed from the bow, flying high above the battlefield and striking the queen in her crest. It was a thin, negligible splinter compared to her massive carapace. It couldn't have hurt more than a bee sting. But it gave the baiun pause, flinching and screeching, shaking its head.

Jar-hidda moved immediately, dodging into the queen's space where she would not be able to move easily. He danced between her feet, dodging her tail as it struck the ground near him. He swung his glaive, striking the tail. It retreated and came to strike again. He twisted his glaive and swung upwards, slicing up into her belly. Her footsteps thundered as he dodged out of the way of the blood. She twisted and screeched, winding around trying to find him.

A second arrow lodged into her side. The baiun flinched and screeched again, turning towards the other attacker. With no eyes Hannah doubted that the queen could tell where the attack was coming from, but it was enough of a distraction. Jar-hidda moved, grabbing onto the heel of the queen's digitigrade back legs, swinging up and leaping from her calf onto her back. He ducked as the tail swung overhead, brushing through his tresses. He pushed off from his crouched position, charging between the spikes on the queen's back. His hand shot up and grabbed the edge of the baiun's crest. She jerked her head, launching him upward. He turned mid-air, glaive held in both hands, falling back down and driving the blade into the queen's skull.

The scream the baiun let loose was blood curdling, and her entire brood reacted to it, shivering and swarming towards her, abandoning a war-path towards Hannah and the survivors.

The baiun's larger hand swept up and smacked Jar-hidda off of her face. His body pummeled into the ground, sliding to a stop where he was swarmed by kainde amedha. He roared, fighting as they pulled and tore at him, dragging him first one direction, then the next. The queen hissed and stalked forward, the kainde amedha parting around her feet until she stepped on the yautja, toes curling around his shoulders. His roar was cut short by the sheer weight of the queen pressing down on him. He gripped onto the massive digits, trying to pry her off of him. She bent her head down, her lips pulled back from her crystalline teeth, her maw opening, the small inner mouth gnashing.

Jar-hidda stared in the face of death, unflinching.

A sliver of silver stuck into the queen's neck. Hannah yelled and screamed out as the queen screeched, turning her head towards the sound. Hannah yelled every curse that she could think up, in both languages she knew, seething at the queen.

" _You leave him alone you bitch_!"

Hannah knew her last arrow did no damage, but she hoped that it made the queen angry enough to draw her. The huntress disengaged the cable and struck the floor of the dock twice roaring out, " _come on_!"

Hissing, the queen appeared to deem Hannah not a threat, turning away from her to pay attention once again to Jar-hidda. Hannah snarled and, shifted the combi-stick in her hand. Out of arrows, it had one final use to her.

The spear arched through the air and stabbed into the queen's skull, underneath Jar-hidda's glaive, sticking out at a different angle. The queen screeched and turned, twisting away from Jar-hidda, her tail swinging behind her. The queen's brood followed suit, all intent on dealing with the nuisance that was Hannah once and for all. Hannah backed away quickly, two steps, taking deep breaths, " _don't miss_ ," watching the queen approach, " _don't miss_ ," getting closer.

Hannah swallowed, rooted herself to the spot, looking up defiantly as the queen was nearly on top of her, neck arching, coming down to consume Hannah.

Hannah held her breath. Her right cheek flushed with heat. Her face lit with blue light as the blast of plasma released from her caster at her shoulder, right into the gaping hole of the baiun's mouth. The crest of the queen exploded, splattering acidic blood all around Hannah. The huntress immediately ran between the legs of the queen to avoid the blood, running past her tail as the body began collapsing. Around her the brood shrieked, shuddered, and began to collapse from the trauma of their queen's death.

" _Jolly get on the god dammed ship_!"

Jar-hidda, who stood staring at Hannah, turned on his heel and ran to the ship, bending to drag Fred on board. Three marines, two of whom were carrying Brody, boarded after him. The others who had scattered joined those already on board. Hannah all but jumped up the ramp, turning and slamming the controls to shut the ramp. She looked out as it retracted and the door closed, glimpsing among the bodies of the dead and the incapacitated serpents, her mother's gun, lying on the floor.

The door closed. Hannah took one breath, before running to the cockpit.

Jar-hidda swung into his chair, turning the ship on, straps unfolding down his body as he grabbed the control stick.

"The hanger door's closed!" Markley yelled out.

Jar-hidda simply clicked.

Blasts of fire roared out from the ship at the surface in front of it and Jar-hidda accelerated the ship through the hole, assisted by the decompression of the dock. It exited the breach among debris and bodies, but quickly sped past them. The ship gave an awful shudder, as behind it Jar-hidda's bomb went off and began to draw all around it into itself.

Jar-hidda roared, tossing his tresses, pressing the controls to reroute power to the engines, activating the drives of the ship to thrust to its maximum speed, pushing it forward. Alarms began to blare, one after another. Jar-hidda ignored them, rattling, listening to his ship groan.

Hannah held onto the seat, head turning every which way, expecting at any moment for the ship to tear in half.

" _One last time father_ ," Hannah heard Jar-hidda murmur. She turned to gaze at him, the tendons in his hand pressing through his skin as he held onto the control shaft. Hannah closed her eyes, her fingers digging into the seat.

 _One last time Kut'kuni_.

The ship shuddered, fighting the gravitational pull that had sucked all the debris and gore back into itself. Hannah felt a pressure, then a sensation of movement. Jar-hidda rattled, then snarled, and everyone fell to the floor suddenly. The ship pulled free and accelerated quickly to its maximum speed.

Hannah lay on her back, staring up at the warm red lights of the ship.

She began laughing.


	41. Chances

Hannah laughed.

The alarms blared.

Someone cried.

Jar-hidda cursed.

In her peripheral vision she could see Jar-hidda all but tear his restraints away and stand up, rushing back to the back of the ship. To her other side the humans gathered and fussed, working quickly and shouting orders while someone yelled out and screamed.

Hannah's smile faded and she sighed, shifting and pushing herself up. She also ran towards the back of the ship, though down the other hallway. She went to the medical room and shuffled around the medicine, grabbing a syringe and running back out.

"Move," she said simply.

Two of the humans shifted to make way for her and she turned the needle in her hand to stab it into Brody's chest.

"I swear to god," he snarled, staying her hand, "you stick that thing in me, and you save my life, I swear to god I will kill you."

Hannah stared into his eyes as he wheezed a breath. She understood. He had someone he needed to meet.

Hannah lowered her hand, set the needle down on the ground and removed the dagger from her leg.

"I'll make it quick."

"You bitch!"

"Stand down!" Brody coughed, "that's an order!" he wheeze again blood speckling his lips.

The soldiers that were moving to stop Hannah lowered their weapons, frowning, their faces expressing their pain. Brody looked from them to Hannah again, nodding.

"I don't suppose you'd be able to tell my son I love him?"

Hannah frowned, "he knows."

Brody nodded and Hannah leaned forward. The humans around her flinched, grimaced and fled from her as she lifted the blade and pierced Brody's skull with it, stabbing it into the weak spot behind his temple. There was more crying. Hannah could tell that the soldiers, the three that remained, were unhappy with her, the least of which seemed to be Markley. Hannah removed her blade and sighed, sitting back on her heels and looking at Brody, the life gone from his eyes.

The last of the alarms turned off and Jar-hidda returned, stopping to look at the dead soldier, before looking at the others.

"Who's injured?"

Of the survivors, there were the three soldiers, two of the ship's regular staff members, and four doctors of various sorts, and Fred. One of the staff worked on repairing Fred while Jar-hidda took the injured to be healed, painfully. Hannah helped Markley move Brody to the training room with the other soldiers. The trophies and weapons distracted them, and Hannah caught one staring at the human skulls on the wall.

"We don't have a way to send him off out here," Hannah informed, "we'll have to wait until we land."

"Where are we going to land?"

Hannah took a deep breath, looking from Brody to the other soldiers, "I don't know. Fred made it sound like there was nothing human out here besides your guys' ship. And he made it sound like anything remotely human was very far away. But I don't know," she looked at Markley, "do you know where the nearest human whatever is?"

Markley frowned and thought, shaking his head, "nearest colony would be the one we took off from, and that's years away."

"We can't stay here," the soldier staring at the skulls said, "not with them," he gave a paranoid glance at Hannah.

Hannah didn't blame him.

"We could drop you guys off at a habitable planet," she offered, looking back at Markley, "make the most of whatever lives you guys have left. You've only got two women left with you though so I don't think you'd be making any lasting legacy. But someone might come by to pick you up."

Markley huffed, "you're quite the fatalist."

"Telling it like it is."

"That's probably our best bet though," the other soldier spoke up and Hannah looked at her, "habitable planet, if you're willing to part with the equipment necessary to send out a signal, we could send a distress signal, wait to be picked up. Hell, if you guys have sleep pods to spare, that would be great."

"We don't," Hannah said simply, "we move fast enough to not need them."

"Fast enough to maybe take us to a colony?"

"We'd have to know where one was first," Hannah said, looking at him, "and while Jolly isn't here, I can safely assume he's not keen on going anywhere human again for a while. And neither am I."

"Fair enough," Markley said looking down to Brody, "stranded on a habitable planet is the current plan. Unless someone comes up with something different."

None of the other soldiers spoke up. Seemed among them Markley had the higher rank. With a single nod to Hannah, the three left Brody to lay in rest.

Hannah made her way to the medical room where Jar-hidda was cleaning blood off his equipment.

" _I'm so glad you don't scream like that anymore_."

Hannah backhanded his shoulder, then rubbed her own as she looked in the healing canister where one of the humans was sleeping.

" _Is he going to come out of there like me?_ "

Jar-hidda rattled.

" _Your… enhancements are the result of several visits to the pod. He won't be affected nearly as much after just one use."_

Hannah stared at the canister a bit longer, before looking to Jar-hidda again. He motioned for the female soldier to come forward. She looked at the gash in her arm before handing her gun to Markley and stepped forward.

"This will hurt," Hannah said.

"I can take it."

Hannah smirked and walked out, moving to the kitchen to prepare food, keeping in mind the weaker stomachs would need something more cooked than rare. She heard the soldier screaming and cursing behind her.

Food was passed around, and Hannah was acutely reminded how the ship had been made for one person. The humans were allowed in the room and furs were gathered and divided among them to make as comfortable beds as possible, to relax and recover from their ordeal. Hannah went to eat her food in the cockpit with Jar-hidda, who was checking the ship's systems.

" _I spoke to the soldiers_ ," she said, sitting on the ground, " _they said that dropping them off on a planet is the best choice for them now."_

" _I don't think so._ "

Hannah paused in taking a bite of her stew and looked at him.

" _The Kut'kuni took a lot of damage trying to escape the pull of the bomb. If we entered into an atmosphere, I don't think we'd make it back out."_

Hannah frowned, turning her gaze to the red images of the ship.

" _What do we do then_?"

Jar-hidda rattled, " _I took a risk_."

" _Jolly…_ " Hannah growled in a warning tone.

Jar-hidda shook his tresses with a snort.

" _Al'nagara's clan has shown that they don't mind taking in humans. Maybe they'll be alright with harboring these ones we have left_."

" _You're kidding right_?"

" _No_ ," he clicked, " _I already sent a signal to them requesting permission to land, letting them know that humans are on board_."

Hannah sighed, rolling her eyes up to the ceiling.

" _If they agree, we'll go there. If not, we'll go to a different planet_."

" _It will take a while to get to them though_ ," Hannah interjected, " _I don't think we have enough food_."

" _We'll ration as necessary_ ," Jar-hidda said with finality. Hannah frowned, finally tipping her bowl to eat some stew.

" _How long before we know they'll accept or reject_?"

Jar-hidda rattled and stood from his seat, " _we'll see_."

Hannah watched him turn and walk away, pausing to look at Fred who stood at one of the windows, before continuing on.

He didn't want to talk. They would have to eventually, but Hannah let him walk away.

With a grunt she stood and walked over to Fred, glancing at him, then out the window.

"What are you looking at?"

"The way the light bends around the ship."

Hannah cocked an eyebrow, "what about it?"

"Private Perez explained that you had stated that the ship travels fast enough to not need any sort of suspended animation."

"I did, and?"

"It's physically impossible."

Hannah frowned, sensing she was about to not understand a lot.

"But looking out the window I understand. It's not that you're moving faster, technically, the ship is bending space around it."

Fred indicated the window and Hannah looked outside at the lines of light as they travelled by, "physics calls this the Alcubierre drive, you're technically going faster than light because you're folding space in front of you, and then unfolding it behind—."

"I'm going to stop you right there Fred," Hannah grunted, looking at her bowl of stew, "I just barely understood the whole 'people moving faster age slower than people moving slower,' thing. I'm a hunter, not a physicist."

Fred chuckled, "I'll spare you the details then. It's just impressive that the Predators have this kind of technology at their disposal. But it explains a lot of things that we didn't know about them."

Hannah scoffed, licking some stew from her lip, "this is an old ship even. Jar-hidda says the newer ones are even faster than this."

Fred chuckled, "I'd like to see that."

Silence fell between them for a bit, Hannah eating as she looked out the window with a new eye.

"How's your arm?"

"I will stab you."

Fred smiled amused, then his expression softened, "what were you and Jar-hidda talking about?"

Hannah's eyes flickered to his reflection in the window, then back out to space, sighing heavily.

"Jar-hidda thinks the ship won't make it out of an atmosphere if we go to a planet. He wants to take everyone here to a… more open-minded clan for refuge. Thing is, with everything everyone has seen, especially what they might see on a yautja homeworld…," Hannah growled in her throat, "the clan may accept the humans onto the planet, but they may not let them leave."

"But," Fred interjected and Hannah glanced at him, "they'd be alive. That's what matters. And I'm sure those who remain would not be unintelligent enough to offend their… yautjan hosts."

Hannah frowned, "hopefully not. The yautja are not above slavery."

Fred nodded, "I'll discuss with the group what they wish. It may be easier to hear coming from me."

Hannah hummed, finished her stew and nodded, "most likely."

Fred turned, smiled and nodded, then turned again and headed back down the ship. Hannah groaned and moved to the seat, setting the bowl down beside it before falling into it. She looked up at the schematics, idly rubbing her shoulder. It still hurt like hell, and Hannah knew she'd have to change her entire fighting style with only one arm, but she'd survive.

With a tap of the console the schematic went away and Hannah began navigating the information on the ship, confirming what Jar-hidda said. The ship was on its last legs, possibly in its worst condition since she had joined him on the Kut'kuni, the crash with Ret'pure-wu notwithstanding.

She rubbed her hand against the chair of the arm almost fondly, thinking ahead. What would they do without a ship? There was no such thing as retiring among the yautja. Would they still be able to travel together? Would they have a home on the Guan-mi clan planet and hunt the rest of their days there? Would Jar-hidda be able to reconcile with his sister?

What would change between her and him now that they were closer than friends?

Hannah didn't know, and that scared her a bit. But she took a deep breath, settling back in the chair, and smiled to herself.

So long as she was with Jar-hidda, she didn't really care what the future held.


	42. Mission Complete

How do you live like this?

That was the common question asked since everyone had come aboard the alien craft. The Kut'kuni, Hannah said it was called; The Unforgotten. Or The Memorialized, or other synonym to things remembered. The language was simple, and given what he was, learning it would be easy provided time and immersion. The others, the humans, they would have a more difficult time. The clicks and pauses would give them some trouble, if they were even willing to learn in the first place.

But, they may not have much of a choice in the matter.

Fred had spoken to the survivors about the options: voluntary stranded on a habitable planet with a beacon to call for help and nothing but hope that it will arrive before they all died, or life among the predators; among the yautja.

Perhaps unsurprisingly a number of opinions were set towards being marooned on a planet instead of staying with the two Predators, but the majority of the group were seasoned soldiers and very intelligent people, and Fred would have been surprised and perhaps a little upset if the group simply went with their first instinct.

As it was, it was discussed at length, taking into consideration what options and what variables there were to the choices, and it was quickly understood that they were not equipped to be marooned anywhere for any amount of time. None of them had any idea how to farm. The soldiers could hunt and defend the group, certainly, but eventually ammunition would run out, that would leave them with the option of gathering, trying to figure out how to plant, care for and raise a harvest, while others tried to make and master more primitive weapons, spears and bows and the like.

Everyone had ideas of how they could make this work, there was one suggestion that if they could figure it out, the bullet casings could be melted down for spear-tips and arrowheads. While the conversation and brainstorming was fascinating to watch, the more it was discussed, the more that it was deemed the lesser of likelihoods for their survival. While there were still opponents to the majority vote, it was ultimately decided to at least see if Jar-hidda's people would take them in.

What followed was a crash course by their gracious hosts on what to expect and how to act. He was not gentle, the yautja, and Fred was certain some of his lessons would cause the group to reconsider their choice. Hannah was not much help in the matter, confirming every time worried or curious eyes sought her that what Jar-hidda said was true.

That was when that question kept coming up.

But Hannah would simply shrug and respond that for her it was a matter of survival, and a little bit of pride. She was some comfort in explaining that for them, all they may have to do is stay out of the way.

Fred suspected that there were at least three people who would not be interested in just keeping their heads down. Those were the ones curious in the ways of combat, who challenged Jar-hidda, who were thoroughly beaten by him. Those lessons were perhaps the hardest for the soldiers to learn, but Fred had a feeling that the yautja was going easy on them.

In fact, Fred was certain that their two hosts were being very gentle with their guests. The hunters' sleeping quarters were given to the humans, piles of fur were divided up for people to sleep on, and the Predators slept in their training room, surrounded by their trophies. Fred had looked in on them once; Hannah curled against the yautja's core, his arm a pillow, and his body all but wrapped around her. This was a closeness that seemed natural to them, and Fred was certain that the two of them had loved each other for a very long while. It only took their capture and imprisonment for them to admit it to each other.

Fred wished that maybe, he had been brave enough to lay bare his feelings to more than just Lex's grave….

The rest of Fred's free-time was spent learning. He listened to Jar-hidda and Hannah speak, studied the writings on the walls, observed the way the ship was commanded, and, while everyone was asleep, went below to learn how it worked.

The more and more he studied the ship and its mechanisms, the more and more he came to understand that this ship was old, barley holding on to its functions. It appeared that it had been torn apart and put back together again and again; far too many times. But despite the poor condition it was in, Fred was able to learn much about the ship, eventually identifying what parts were responsible for its 'faster than light' travel, the part that endlessly recycled the air, that controlled the temperature and the power source that fed into the whole ship. He did also try to find a way into the ship's mainframe, if it even had one, to get more detailed information. But all of his searches never bore fruit. The technology was just too… alien. He had no hope of downloading information directly. But he did figure out how to work Jar-hidda's chair and was going through the information manually instead.

No doubt these were things that Jar-hidda, or any yautja for that matter, would not want him knowing. But if his mission against Weyland was ended, he would find some other way to be useful.

He was mostly certain that his mission was ended; with this catastrophic failure, he predicted that the Weyland-Yutani corporation would eventually fold under bankruptcy. Karl Weyland had no heirs to take over his position, and not having a Weyland in the Weyland-Yutani company would affect their stocks. They would likely try to spin the whole thing as Weyland's fault, try to save face, but the fact of the matter would remain that it was their chief executive officer who headed the project, and their money that funded it, and hundreds of lives lost because of them.

There was the chance it would live on, the unkillable beast, even without a Weyland to head it. But there was little Fred could do about it now. He had an option to ask to be individually marooned; he had no need for food, water or sleep. Even if it took one-hundred years to be rescued he would survive.

He knew there was a risk that the company would survive this catastrophe of a mission. A small risk. Normally he would not ignore such a small risk. But the yautja….

The yautja had marked Lex as one of their own. It was true, though, that Lex would not have handled integration into their culture as well as Hannah had. The more he learned about them, the more he was certain Lex would have resented ever being blooded. But these were still, in a way, her people. The idea, the chance to live among them, it was a temptation he had never known before. It was a temptation to call his mission a success, a job well done, and to settle, and have a home.

Plus, what he knew of Jar-hidda, he was an outlier, and the clan of yautja they were heading towards was a clan full of outliers; not criminals, but something about them was not quite to standard for other yautja. It was why the two hunters considered even the possibility of the survivors living among them. There was hope. Hope for that peace that Hannah had wished upon him back on the Turquoise.

Maybe, it was time to accept peace.

His thoughts were interrupted when a streak of color cut through the expanse of space. The line divided, creating a loop in the blackness. Through the tear, a massive ship slipped silently through.

Fred's eyes widened. That was definitely not how the Kut'kuni travelled.

"Well isn't that something?"

There was a flash of light on the chair and Fred looked at it, casually pressing the buttons, and answered the call. A visage appeared on the screen, much like Jar-hidda's but not. The image was made entirely of red heat, no color, just tusks and thorny ridges. The other Yautja snorted and shook his head at the sight of the android and snarled.

"You are one of the human survivors?"

It took Fred a moment to understand the basic meaning of what was being said, and smiled kindly, "no."

"Where is Jar-hidda?"

Fred contemplated a moment, tilting his head, "I'll get him."

Fred slipped easily out of the chair, unhappy rattling hitting his back. It didn't faze him, and he moved towards the trophy room, tapped the symbols needed to open the door, and walked in. The hunters were awake the moment the door opened, and he stopped some distance away from where they were glowering at him.

"Sorry to wake you," he rumbled in yautjan, "you're being hailed."

Jar-hidda rattled, his tusk clicking and he looked to Hannah, who glanced at him. She moved to let him up and the yautja stood, huffing at Fred as he passed by the android. Fred smiled at him, then looked to Hannah.

"You already speak it?"

"Don't take it personally, Hannah, my mind is a computer, I pick things up very quickly."

Hannah also huffed and deftly stood to her feet. It amazed him how little the loss of an arm seemed to have impacted her mobility.

"Well come on Fred, let's see how much trouble we're in."

Fred followed the huntress out of the trophy room and to the cockpit, where the yautja on the screen was already conversing with Jar-hidda.

The older yautja on the screen glared at over to the two of them.

"You also endorse this idea, Numyakuo'ide?"

Hannah rattled and continued forward as Fred stopped, looking at the backs of the two hunters.

"I don't propose the same sort of welcome that I've received from your clan, honored Al'nagara," she answered, "I know that the laws would state that these humans, unblooded, should be put to death for what they've witnessed. But by the same laws so should I."

The higher-ranked yautja rattled in consideration.

"If allowing them within the clan is out of the question, would they at the very least be given some land to live on for the rest of their days?"

"They have females?"

"Two," Jar-hidda answered, "but even if they reproduce, they will die out quickly. Several of their generations would only last one of ours."

Al'nagara rattled, and Fred remained politely quiet, observing and learning.

"They will be allowed, not as prey or as eta," Al'nagara finally declared, "on our lands or on their own will be determined by the high-eldress. Even as witnesses, it would be dishonorable to slay those that would not fight back. They will be given quarter, they will be subject to any laws they break."

Jar-hidda clicked in affirmation. Hannah glanced over to Fred, a small smile on her lips.

Fred's smile was heartfelt and genuine.

There was hope for those that they had saved. It would be hard, it would be long, but they would survive.

As the image of the elder yautja vanished, and a light opened on the large ship before them, Fred looked out to the stars, and nodded once to himself.

Yes, he decided, his and Lex's work was done.


	43. Homeward

" _Alright everyone, rules_ ," Hannah said as she slid in, holding her shoulder, " _no one gets off this ship unless we say so. No weapons, weapons just make you look like a better trophy_."

Jar-hidda watched the woman as she addressed the humans, groggy still as they shifted about on their furs.

" _What's going on_?" one of them asked.

Hannah looked at her, exhausted, " _the clan is picking us up_ ," she said simply to the humans, " _they said that they'll let you live on their planet under their protection, but that also means their laws and also_ ," she held up a finger, " _'where' hasn't been decided yet. So please don't ask. Just get dressed, and be ready._ "

Hannah turned, her braids smacking against her back. Jar-hidda saw her wobble slightly as the gravity shifted from theirs to the atoll's. Losing an arm had disrupted her balance. She would basically have to re-train everything. But she was well-humored about it. He expected no less from her. As he followed her out, leaving Fred to tend to the humans, he could tell she was also nervous, and as they went to the trophy room to dress in what armor they had left, well, she struggled, and he saw fit to ask as he helped her with her straps.

"What's on your mind?"

He saw her tense, then she relaxed with a sigh, "I don't want you to be marked as a badblood again…."

Jar-hidda rattled, "I've made my choice. I will live with the consequences."

He saw her grimace, frowning deeply. There were no words of comfort he could give to her, so as he fastened the last strap, he bent and rested his crest against her brow and purred. She mimicked him, and he grinned. Leaning away from her.

She walked with him down the ramp towards the yautja that stood beyond. There was no army, no ceremony, just Al'nagara and the two human sain'ja beside him.

"Humans on board?" the clan leader gruffed.

"Still on board," Hannah asserted quickly and the clan leader looked at her. Jar-hidda rattled, trying to calm the anxiety in his companion.

"Holy shit Numyakuo'ide, what happened to your arm!?"

Hannah looked harshly at Kainde-med and held her shoulder. Jar-hidda snorted, in an effort to not laugh.

Al'nagara looked at her wound, then looked at Jar-hidda.

"You're both injured."

"Humans are space faring," Jar-hidda began explaining, "we were brought aboard one of their vessels, kainde amedha were on board and freed. The humans we have on board are all that we have left."

"You willingly went onto a human vessel?"

Jar-hidda rattled.

"It's a long story honored Al'nagara. I'll explain, but not here."

Al'nagara clicked and rattled deeply, eyeing Jar-hidda.

Jar-hidda could see Hannah tense beside him, ready to spring into action. He rattled a warning.

"This is an extremely difficult situation you bring to us," the clan leader admitted, "we will review what had happened, what fate beyond that is up to the high eldress."

"Is she on board?"

"No, she sent Kainde-med in her stead. Our orders are to bring everyone to Buesi'ute and figure it out there. For now," he growled and Jar-hidda had to refrain from touching Hannah, feeling the sudden need to hold her back. She glowered at the elder as if daring him to fight her.

Al'nagara looked straight into her eyes, "walk with me, and tell me what happened."

The clan leader stepped back respectfully and turned, glancing over at Hannah who had relaxed, seemingly surprised. Jar-hidda brushed his shoulder against hers and chuckled. She held her shoulder and glared at him accusingly.

"Whatever concern you have, Numyakuo'ide, let it rest," the named woman looked at the clan leader, as he glanced at the two of them over his shoulder, "I have no interest in turning either of you over to the arbiters over whatever happened. I understand that the affairs of humans are complicated," he looked away from her, "and I care little if the matriarchy will condemn you for their petty grievances."

Hannah stared at Al'nagara's back as he began walking, and Jar-hidda grinned. They had made the right choice.

He watched her turn to look at Thwei-lar'ja. The woman seemed to look with disdain at the two of them, then scrunched her nose. Hannah frowned and began walking forward with Jar-hidda, following after Al'nagara.

She was relaxing now, and that made Jar-hidda feel better. He'd be lying if he had said he thought it was all going to go so well. He had been branded a badblood for doing, at least what he considered, less.

"Start at the beginning," Al'nagara bid to Jar-hidda, "start with after you left my clan."

Jar-hidda gave a single nod and began into the story; going to earth, reporting the loss of human kind to Chul-yaun, going to go on a hunt and being intercepted by human spacecrafts.

With hesitation he explained how they were captured, how the humans were aware of yautja and wanted to use them to further themselves as a species. As he began into explaining their escape, he recognized the room they were led into as a medical wing, and a couple females approached immediately. With some amusement Jar-hidda saw Hannah position herself casually between him and them, but it seemed it was her they were after. They barked orders for Hannah to remove her armor and lay on the slab so that they could begin working on her. His friend glanced at him then stepped forward, leaving him with Al'nagara.

"So after you were broken free of the kainde amedha hive," the clan leader began, glancing at Jar-hidda. His tone was even, so Jar-hidda assumed the elder had already scanned and confirmed that he was not impregnated and dishonored.

"Hannah and I met with a group of human survivors, and one je'mar. We fought through the remaining brood to where my ship was being held hostage by a single human female with a weapon demanding negotiations," Jar-hidda growled low, recalling Hannah willingly walking to her death.

"Negotiations were interrupted by the Baiun and a refreshed hoard of kainda amedha, too many to be what we originally thought their numbers were, and too soon for them to be a fresh batch. We lost most of the human survivors, but Hannah defeated the Baiun, and we left the ship in time for my bomb to detonate and destroy all evidence."

Al'nagara clicked as tusk, the heat in his crest and face betraying a conflict of emotions, before flaring into somewhere between pissed and impressed.

"That's quite the story."

"Our masks will back up some of the more unbelievable parts."

"Oh I believe you, honored Jar-hidda. It's the council I will have to provide proof to, for these claims of humans trying to hybridize yautja and weaponize kainde amedha. Some proof that Numyakuo'ide was the one to bring down the baiun will also be needed if she is to be blooded."

Jar-hidda winced, looking over to his companion, being fussed over angrily by the two b'yoer.

He kept his reservations to himself, as he would let Hannah speak for herself.

The sharp eyes of the clan leader were on him though, and he heard a rumble from the elder.

"What's the matter?"

"Many things happened on the ship, honored Al'nagara," Jar-hidda began, after a heavy pause, "near the end, Numyakuo'ide and I had discussed dropping our rogue status and joining a clan, your clan, if you would have us, but I have much doubt…."

Al'nagara rumbled, "that Dekna-tuja would accept?"

"That we would be blooded as sain'ja."

"Your masks have proof of your honorable killing of the kainde amedha, do they not?"

"They do, honored Al'nagara, but it's not that I doubt you would blood us, I have doubts… that we want to be blooded."

Al'nagara rattled in curiosity, turning to face Jar-hidda more, "you would want to join a clan, but not be blooded in it?"

Jar-hidda felt the sensation of danger dancing around the outskirts of his mind, but he ignored it.

"There is much freedom that we get by not being full sain'ja of a clan, it's that freedom I believe we wish to preserve we….," he hesitated, but if the Guan-mi clan was ever going to take a risk on them, he had to take a risk on Al'nagara, "we have beliefs that do not align with the doctrine of the matriarchy, and we don't wish to be bound by their… rules. If continueing to live as unblooded rogues preserves that freedom, we will take the ill will that comes with that."

Jar-hidda rattled cautiously and looked to Al'nagara. The elder male regarded Jar-hidda with a cold eye and silence.

"Jar-hidda," he said, his tone much softer than he anticipated, "the Guan-mi clan is comprised of those whose ideals do not _exactly_ align with those of the matriarchy. My preference in dawe-q'we, Bhu'ja-zhu-ju'dha's idea of male equality, Dekna-tuja feelings on the idiocy of the political climate of the matriarchy as a whole, your sister's 'crime' of being infertile."

The clan leader rumbled, lifting his hand and removing his mask, looking Jar-hidda in the eye, "we bear the mark of the Guan-mi clan not because we follow The Path, but that we all follow our own. There is more than one Path of honor that leads to glory."

Jar-hidda was silent. He did not doubt or believe Hannah had been mistaken or had outright lied to him, but this sort of belief, the idea that there was a clan that would accept the both of them as they were, him with his past, Hannah with her humanity.

He was silent for far too long, he realized this when Al'nagara chuckled. Jar-hidda's vision focused again as the clan elder put his mask on his belt.

"Has the horror of your ordeal stolen your voice?"

"No, honored Al'nagara… I'm."

Al'nagara lifted a hand and shook Jar-hidda's shoulder firmly, "there's a place for you in my clan, Jar-hidda, you and Numyakuo'ide. Now, come, rest, eat."

Al'nagara turned to lead Jar-hidda out of the room. The younger male, though, did not follow, instead looking at Hannah, grimacing and biting back a scream as the females re-opened the wound on her shoulder.

"As much as you don't like females," the clan elder spoke to Jar-hidda's back, "let them do their work. I promise you they will do nothing to her."

Jar-hidda didn't deny not trusting females, but that was not what had given him pause.

"If it's alright, I'd like to remain here while they work," Jar-hidda felt half-dazed as he turned to look at Al'nagara, "keep her company."

Al'nagara stood still for a moment, then clicked in the affirmative, turning and walking towards the human sain'ja. As the three left, Jar-hidda moved to one of the slabs meant for the b'yoer's patients. He pulled himself up to sit on the edge of the metal table, looking at Hannah. She was looking at him past her mangled shoulder where the females were removing the scar tissue.

She smiled. She had heard the conversation and she knew that they had a home.

Jar-hidda felt like the weight of his past had finally lifted, and the future, for once, was promising, and he smiled as well.


	44. New and Old

"What do you see?"

Hannah didn't look away from the horizon to look at her companion, instead her gaze remained transfixed on the greens and oranges of the sunset. Sometimes she seriously regretted that Jar-hidda could not see the colors she did.

"I was just thinking," she murmured, "about Brody's son. He'll live the rest of his life not knowing how his father died. Did you kill him?" she glanced at Jar-hidda, "did the kainde amedha? Another human? Did he die in the implosion? He'll never know."

Her eyes looked to the sun again, resting her chin on her arm. Jar-hidda did not respond to her, and she turned her gaze to her unusually quiet companion, and found him staring at her solemnly, his mandibles still.

The humans had been given some land on the outskirts of the main city of Buesi'ute, before they even set up houses, they buried Brody. Hannah had attended, Jar-hidda had not, seemingly for the same turmoil of emotions he was feeling now.

She smiled. She didn't blame him. She never did. She was only hoping that Brody's son would live a life very different than what she had.

But it was apparent a change of subject was in order.

"What did yautja have before they discovered suns?"

Jar-hidda rattled and looked from her to the space ahead of him.

"Before we knew about suns? I have no idea, just periods of warmth and cold that dictated days I suppose. That was a very long time ago though."

Hannah smirked, "yeah, but isn't it that when females die, they get the privilege of becoming suns? What the hell did they believe before suns existed?"

Jar-hidda shifted and sat on the earth beside Hannah, rumbling, "you're asking a question about what females thought millions of years ago Hannah, I'm sure they'd rather no one remember what the used to think."

Hannah chuckled, "I supposed not, it would invalidate the purity of their preachings."

Jar-hidda huffed in amusement, "don't get too cocky, Hannah."

Hannah shook her head, shifting back and resting on her hand.

Jar-hidda stared at her again in silence for a bit, and she glanced at him, grinning, "what?"

"How does it feel?" he asked, nodding his head towards her.

Hannah shifted and lifted her left hand before her. From her shoulder to the tips of her fingers were entirely mechanical. It was sleek and sharp in typical yautjan design, but the female who had designed it did try to keep the roundness of her other human arm. It had built-in gauntlet functions and wrist-blades among other features, though Hannah was most glad for the balance it had returned to her. Though in whatever stroke of genius, the architect decided to give the fingers claws, which Hannah had very strong feelings about.

"Heavy," she responded, "and where the wires attach tickle," she lifted her right hand and touched a small flat button on the back of her neck. She had a series of these that went down her spine, and she could only guess as to how they worked, only knowing that they allowed for her to move the arm as if it were a natural part of her body.

"You'll get used to it."

"I know I will," Hannah scoffed, smacking the back of her hand against Jar-hidda's arm, "I'm just complaining to complain."

Jar-hidda huffed, pushing her shoulder so that she nearly fell over, and stood to his feet, "come on, I came to retrieve you for the ceremony, not to listen to you gripe."

"Is the ceremony necessary?" Hannah groaned as she stood up.

"Everything is ceremony," Jar-hidda answered. She caught up to his side.

"I hope it doesn't last long."

"You and I are something of celebrities, Hannah," Jar-hidda laughed and she frowned, "it will likely last _days_."

"Maybe you'll be demanded to be bred," Hannah teased.

"Maybe _you_ will," Jar-hidda teased back, "and didn't you promise to not bring up females again with me?"

Hannah huffed, smiling, "you have no proof, it didn't happen."

"Oh no, I distinctly recall you trading teasing me with females and Fireblood for my consciousness."

Hannah grinned and shook her head, "I have no memories of this."

"You're not _that_ old," Jar-hidda protested playfully, making a grab for her arm. Hannah danced out of his reach and took off running down the way. Jar-hidda ran after her. Her escape took the two of them through the little human village that had been set up for the survivors, and she caught a smile from Fred as she ran past.

Jar-hidda ended up catching up to her just outside of the doorway to a home. She let herself get caught, feeling his arms wrap around her and lift her from the ground as his tusks tickled at her neck.

She kicked her legs and laughed, gripping onto his arms as he took her inside and set her down.

"Watch out for the claws," he muttered casually, rubbing his arm where she had drawn blood.

"Sorry," she winced, looking at her hand and shaking her head. She didn't have any feeling in it, though sometimes she swore she could. It came with a whole slew of things she would have to relearn and adjust to.

The two of them began to get dressed in their armor and weapons. Why they needed these for a ceremony Hannah didn't know, but she guessed that ceremonial clothing was reserved for females. Armor and weapons were as formal as the two of them would ever get.

She was ready before he was, as usual, watching him dawn his armor and weapons with words of respect and prayers. She shook her head at his reverence but stayed silent. Despite everything he still worshipped, he just worshipped a little differently now. Her gaze wandered from him to the trophy room, bigger than the one they had on the Kut'kuni, and most of his trophies had been relocated to here, even the skull of his trophy baiun had been taken from where he had left it on his sanctuary planet and put on a wall nearly by itself.

This place, their abode, had been given to them in preparation of them becoming sain'ja, and would be theirs until their final hunt. But Hannah did not expect they would use it very much.

"You ready?"

Hannah lifted her gaze from the human skulls to her companion and smiled, "always."

Jar-hidda grinned and put his mask on, Hannah followed suit and the two of them left the house and moved down the road. They could hear the thunder of the gathered yautja before they saw Bhu'ja-zhu-ju'dha. He bowed his head to them in silence, then backed away and turned to lead them to the beginning of the ceremony: the start of an empty path, flanked on either side by other sain'ja, tapping their spears in rhythm, accenting the beat of drums, and other percussion instruments, filling the air with a heartbeat and hissing metallic sounds.

Bhu'ja-zhu-ju'dha walked ahead of them and the two followed a few steps behind. Hannah tried not to look to either side of her, her muscles tense and ready for action.

She felt a soft nudge against her arm and looked to Jar-hidda with as much subtlety as she could muster. He didn't look at her, but she relaxed slightly.

The old arbiter stopped and kneeled before Dekna-tuja, slamming his fist to his chest. She gave a simple nod and tapped her fingers against her chair. He bowed his head and stood, taking his place beside Al'nagara who stepped up to meet the two of them. Hannah and Jar-hidda kneeled and bowed their heads, slamming their fists to their chest, and immediately the noise stopped.

"With your permission, honored high-eldress, I, Al'nagara, clan leader, wish to acknowledge the achievement of these youngbloods and their triumph over the kainde amedha and blood them into your clan as sain'ja of the Guan-mi."

There was a stifled chuckle and Hannah pursed her lips. The last thing she had expected from the eldress was a laugh.

"Quite young, your youngbloods," the eldress chimed in amusement.

Al-nagara clicked in confirmation and rattled in uncertainty, "the title remains regardless of seasons High Eldress."

"I know," she clicked in amusement, "this all just seems ridiculous. Proceed."

"Thank you High Eldress," Al'nagara slammed his fist to his chest, obviously more comfortable with getting things back on track than bantering with the eldress.

The clan leader turned to the two of them, still kneeling.

"Jar-hidda and Numyakuo'ide, though not an official chiva, the two of you successfully hunted kainde amedha and so are being recognized for your honor. You have taken your first steps on your path to glory, and today we honor you and recognize you as sain'ja."

He turned and was approached by a gkin gu's're h-de, Hannah recognized Kantra, carrying in her hands a cup of some black material. Al'nagara accepted it from her with a bow of his head, then turned to the two of them again.

"Under normal circumstances, you would have already marked yourselves with the blood of your first kill during your trial. But your victory was not under normal circumstances, so we have taken from our vault, our treasured share of blood saved from the kainde amedha baiun slain on the hunt that brought Bhu'ja-zhu-ju'dha his honor as arbiter."

Hannah glanced over at the old yautja, unable to shake the feeling that he had known this would be the outcome from the start, when he first met her on Chul-yaun's atoll. That same feeling she had when he had first spoken to her about there being more than one path.

Her attention was drawn back to the ceremony as Al'nagara moved to stand before Jar-hidda and bid him to stand. Her companion got to his feet, and with a click from Al'nagara, moved his hand beneath his pauldron and slid the mesh links over his shoulder, exposing the right side of his chest.

The clan chief took from the cup a black pen of sorts, and began to draw on Jar-hidda's chest. The hiss of acid lasted only a couple of seconds, and three jagged lines, vaguely resembling flames, were permanently etched into his skin.

"With this mark you are blooded into the Guan-mi clan, and you may choose your name as a warrior."

"Jar-hidda," it was an easy choice, it was already the name he had chosen for himself and had been known by for years.

Hannah nodded once to herself, as she expected no less from her companion, resisting the urge to wrinkle her nose at the smell of burnt yautja flesh.

Al'nagara turned and stepped before her, and she followed the same movements of standing up and moving her mesh down. With it close now, she could see that the cup was made of kainde amedha chitin, and the pen was the claw of one. She grit her teeth against the burn of the acid, and the urge to wrinkle her nose at the smell of her _own_ flesh burning. She looked down as the three lines were carved into her skin, jagged waves of heat that joined at the base.

"With this mark you are blooded into the Guan-mi clan, and you may choose your name as a warrior."

Hannah had thought about this, the name 'Numyakuo'ide' had been given to her, and not even by Jar-hidda. She still remembered his nickname for her back on earth, 'Cut'nry Nicul,' but as an individual she didn't feel like Fearsome Captor was very descriptive of herself, nor something that she wanted to be known as for the rest of her life. And 'Hannah'? It was a human name, given to her by human parents, her father, but more importantly her mother. It meant 'grace,' and now in her new life, it seemed to have the same significance that the nickname 'Jolly' had between her and Jar-hidda. It was a personal name between the two of them, and she didn't want other people calling her it anymore.

She had mulled over others, 'Noreide' for her fighting style of piercing holes in her enemies both with arrows and with her combistick, 'Kalei'pyode'a' for the irony, and the joy of forcing people to call her a young woman. 'Hulij-Bpe Tetch-na' was one of her favorites so far, imagining youngbloods murmuring to each other about that one crazy bitch of a human who did things they could only imagine in their short century-long lives.

In the end, with the limited time she had, she had finally settled on one.

"Sa'gok Oiu-zil."

The Black Path. It was something that her and Jar-hidda shared, the one color that humans and yautja could both understand. Though she would walk by Jar-hidda's side until the time of her Final Hunt, she walked blindly, spitefully refusing to see any path before her. That was who she would be: yautja, but not.

She could tell by Jar-hidda's side-ways glance as she moved her mesh back up, it was not something he was expecting her to do, and she smirked at him.

"Jar-hidda and Sa'gok Oiu-zil," Al'nagara declared, passing the cup back to Kantra, "blooded warriors, sain'ja of the Guan-mi clan, may you bring honor to yourselves, and to us all."

The resounding tapping of spears and roars filled the air. Hannah looked to Jar-hidda and grinned. She would tease him about all of this later, once they could hear each other. The two of them respectfully backed away from chief and eldress, and turned to face their new clan. Jar-hidda struck the air with his fist and roared, Hannah threw her voice into the chorus as well.

The ritual done, the noise became chaotic with cheers and yells of celebration, uncoordinated tapping of spears. A warm hand caused Hannah's shoulder to sink and she looked over to Bhu'ja-zhu-ju'dha. The arbiter swung before the two of them, pounding his chest and bowing his head. Hannah and Jar-hidda's fists moved from the air to their chests. The elder yautja then stepped forward, clicking in praise.

"I imagine many will want to take up your time, legendary figures that you are, now blooded into our clan, but first, I have a gift for you two, if you will allow me a moment."

"Of course," Jar-hidda replied, Hannah barely able to hear him even with his raised voice. Bhu'ja-zhu-ju'dha nodded, tapped his gauntlet, and then turned. A moment later, over the canopy of trees, a ship flew up into view. Its landing forced the encroaching yautja mob to part. The side of the ship opened and the ramp extended, inviting the two of them in.

Hannah's wide eyes went from the ship to Jar-hidda to Bhu'ja-zhu-ju'dha. It was not the Kut'kuni. The old familiar ship had been set down behind their home, and was declared by several female mechanics that it would be inoperable from that day forward. There was no way to fix it.

Hannah could see in Jar-hidda, the same surprise as hers.

"It is time to let the memory of your father rest, Jar-hidda," the older yautja said calmly, "this ship is yours, a gift from your clan. Something…. A little more up to date," he grinned, "though my mate made sure it was still familiar."

The elder beckoned them with a sweeping motion of his arm, and Hannah looked to Jar-hidda and grinned. The two of them took off running simultaneously towards the ship, slipping into the Ner'uda and already feeling the difference in space. Hannah spun in place to look at the walls, clean cut symbols, no wear, with a sharp scent. She raced Jar-hidda to the cockpit and clapped her hands on the back of a chair, one of two.

"My own seat!" she exclaimed, grinning slyly at Jar-hidda.

"That doesn't mean you get to drive," he countered, pointing at her while slipping into his. He tapped the arms to the chair, bringing up the controls. The images were a crisp bright red as he breezed through them. Hannah slid her eyes across the large space, mouth open in rapture, the clamor of the crowd all but forgotten.

"Well," her companion's voice brought her attention to him again. He clicked, tapping his claws impatiently against the arm of his chair, it was a facade, "I don't exactly feel like going back out there to be destroyed by adoring fans."

Hannah grinned deviously, planting herself firmly in her chair, "we _do_ still have an r'ka hunt to finish."

Jar-hidda grinned and tapped a button on his chair. The cacophony of the clan was suddenly silent, only the soft sound of the engine as it spun faster, and the sounds of Jar-hidda's claws tapping in coordinates. Hannah almost gleefully pushed away the thoughts of so many disappointed yautja being left behind as the ship lifted and cut through the atmosphere, sliding through the void like a knife in the darkness.

Hannah turned to look at Jar-hidda, warmth filling her as she watched him work the ship, feeling the familiarity take away the weight of everything else. The final bits of gravity shed with the knowledge that the two of them would be as they are, closer now than she would have ever imagined they would be, with a home they could return to, and a clan that accepted them as they were. Two very flawed individuals, hand in hand on a broken path.

"You're staring," Jar-hidda huffed, turning to look at her, "what?"

Hannah smiled, this crazy thing between her and him, that still gave her some anxiety, would still need to have some kinks worked out. But that was later, they had time.

"What do you think you're going to call this one?"

Jar-hidda clicked in thought, looking around the ship, "I think I'll call it, Gka-de Ciujim."

The Trickster's Dance. Hannah shook her head with a smile. It seemed there would be nothing she could do that would fully change Jar-hidda's pious ways, or his belief in fate and destiny. But ultimately, that made her happy. Her fear that he would change completely for her eased. In the end, despite the new path he walked, he was still Jar-hidda.

"What? You got something better?"

"No," Hannah scrunched her nose with a smile, "so long as we've got places to go and things to hunt and I've got you with me while we do all that? I don't care what we call the ship."

Jar-hidda turned his golden gaze towards her, and she didn't need to see heat to feel him. His claw touched a button, space itself seemed to part before them, the ship hummed, she touched her hand to his, and they were off.

Just two old souls travelling down their own path, wherever it led.

Thank you all so much for being with me through this trilogy nearly five years in the making. Thank you for your patience, your kind words, your sympathy through my difficult times and your constructive criticisms that helped me better the journey we've been on.

As only a few of you know, I did try to get in touch with 20th Century Fox to see if there was a process to go through to try to get published through Dark Horse, the search led me to contact Steve Perry himself, who advised me that the best chance I had at turning The Broken Path trilogy into something more than fanfiction on the internet, I had to be an established author first. Now with Disney's acquisition of 20th Century Fox, that may have changed; it may be harder, it may be easier, I'm not sure, but I had resolved after my conversation with Mr. Perry that once I finished the Broken Path Trilogy, I was going to work on my original stories, establish myself as an author.

I had mentioned to some that I would be doing a side story, Scars, that was a chronology of Jar-hidda's past. I still plan on doing this, taking breaks with my writing to post that here for you all, but updates may be sporadic, I apologize beforehand.

That does also mean I won't be posting things here regularly, and possibly things unrelated to Predator and/or Aliens, as I have had a yearning to write some other stories set in other mediums. If they continue to be your cup of tea, then I hope you enjoy them, if you're only here for AvP, that's fine too. I still have several stories planned for AvP, and will get back around to them eventually. But for now, I will be rather quiet on this front. Once I get a website set up for myself where I can post my works online, I will link it here for you to follow if you wish.

Thank you all again, so much, for everything these past several years, and may I see you all again in the future, on our own paths.


End file.
